


Santa Buddy

by Dragonfeathers



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Anal Sex, Basically Rose plays Piers like a fiddle and he loves every minute of it, Biting, Cheating, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Orgasm Denial, Overstimulation, Piers has depression I don’t make the rules, Power Dynamics, Smut, a teeny bit of bondage, plenty of oral sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:07:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21812719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonfeathers/pseuds/Dragonfeathers
Summary: Piers looked down sharply as Rose’s hand came to rest on his thigh. He followed the arm the hand belonged to back to its owner and narrowed his eyes.Rose smiled and oh, fuck, that glint was back in his eyes again- he petted a little higher up and laughed. “Oh, come on. I heard you earlier. Don’t you want a Rolex under the tree?”“It’d take more than a rolex.” He raised an eyebrow, seeing if Rose would take the bait.Rose’s smile grew impossibly wide. “Why don’t you come and sit on my lap and tell me what you want for Christmas, then.”—-Or the time when one year, at Chairman Rose’s Christmas party, Piers gets exactly what he wanted from Rose for Christmas.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Kibana | Raihan, Nezu | Piers/Chairman Rose
Comments: 61
Kudos: 141





	1. Hurry Down the Chimney Tonight

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Gift Horses](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21608515) by [heartratemonitor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartratemonitor/pseuds/heartratemonitor). 



> Headcanons: Piers is broke, things with the band aren’t going great, and he misses Marnie who has started studying in Hammerlocke. 
> 
> Rose is crazy rich, his marriage is failing, and he’s a serial cheater.

Somehow, it never really felt like Christmas until the yearly League party at Rose’s Wyndon penthouse. It was usually the only party that Piers could get time off his day job to attend- and while there were a whole lot of random FIPA execs and a ton of Rose’s speeches to listen to, there was free food, and alcohol, and it was a good chance to catch up with the other gym leaders without being expected to fight them. 

It was even kind of relaxing- and Piers was usually the type to scuttle away from social gatherings quicker than a wimpod into its burrow- but right then, squished onto a couch in a corner of the lounge between Raihan and Gordie, a glass of champagne in his hand and butlers circulating to bring him teeny tiny Christmas puddings and individual cake slices, he was having fun. 

The bloody Christmas music was getting on his nerves, though, and he told the others as much when his least favourite tune came on- “UGH, Santa Buddy? Seriously? Who chose this wretched song?!” He sank down into the cushions and all but wailed- “it’s bad enough I have to listen to it at work, but I’m supposed to be having fun here and then on comes fucking SANTA BUDDY?”

“Such a snob!” Raihan laughed down at him and he glared at him. “Nothing wrong with a bit of Bublé!”

“Oh, there so is!” Piers warmed to his subject- working at a department store, he was subjected to Christmas music every year for months on end, and he had a special place in his heart reserved for hating “Santa buddy”. “Micheal Bublé is a liar and a coward!” He listed on his fingers as he talked- “Santa Buddy this, Santa Pally that, Santa no-homo this- just come out and say it. Just look him in the eyes and say, fuck me for money, Santa.” 

Everybody laughed, and then a particular voice cut through- “I didn’t realise you had such strong feelings towards Santa Claus, Piers.”

He felt himself going red and sheepishly took another sip of his drink as chairman Rose effortlessly took charge of the conversation, and the twinkle in his eye was a bit too much for Piers to handle. He hadn’t realised that he was talking all that loudly.

Of course, that just made everyone else laugh harder, and eventually he joined in again. 

“Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all personally for being here, at the end of such a magnificent season for both the premier and championship gyms.” Rose raised his champagne flute and smiled warmly at them, then Oleana touched his arm and drew him aside to go and speak to some more important new arrivals. 

“It’s a good thing I don’t have any shame or that would have been bloody awkward.” Piers quipped, breaking the silence, and Gordie just shook his head at him, before the conversation moved on to Bea’s A-levels and how Allister was coping with his GCSEs.

Wine always made him sleepy, and Gordie’s shoulder was comfy, townie bastard that he was, so Piers found himself sinking back against him over the course of the evening, until the Rock-type leader had to shake him to wake him up when it was time for him to leave. 

“Bye, Knobhead.” He mumbled, curling into the warm space he left behind.

“Bye, Spikes. Bye, everyone.” Gordie’s departure seemed to prompt the rest of the Gym leaders- and Leon, who in these gatherings was definitely lumped in with them rather than the higher-ups- to look at the time and sigh and grumble about what time they had to be up tomorrow and they should probably be making tracks. Pretty much everyone else was either gone or going, and staff were starting to loiter around the edges of the party cleaning up. He squinted at his watch - damn- it was one thirty already! He’d missed the last train back to Spikemuth by a mile. 

“You want me to get you a corvicab, mate?” Said Raihan, looking down at him with a grin.

“I’m not that drunk. Just knackered.” He opened his eyes. 

“I know. You look like you’re gonna fall asleep on the sofa.

“I’m seriously debating just staying here so I don’t have to go out in the cold.” He pulled a cushion over himself as a blanket and snuggled down.

Raihan pulled it off him and smacked him with it. “C’mon. We can share a cab to Hammerlocke.”

“A’ight.” He yawned and shambled to his feet. “Gotta bring some of these snacks back to Marnie, though.” He cracked a grin. “Wonder if Rose’ll lend me a Tupperware.” 

Raihan snorted. “I don’t think Rose would even know what that was.”

Piers was in the middle of piling up a mountain of leftover Stollen and mince pies on a paper plate- a maid had even appeared with some clingfilm- when Rose appeared in the archway to the kitchen, dressed in the same suit as before, sans the jacket and with an elegant red silk dressing gown instead. 

“Ah, Piers- if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to speak with you a minute about the broadcasting rights for Spikemuth battles next year.”

He wanted to do this now? What on earth was he trying to pull by talking to him about this after a party at fucking one in the morning rather than schedule a meeting? Was he looking to sucker him into agreeing to something while he was tipsy? Piers narrowed his eyes. “Sorry, Chairman, but could we do this another time? It’s pretty late already.” 

“And we were gonna share a cab back to Hammerlocke.” Said Raihan, looking down at Piers, who fully planned on sleeping on Raihan’s floor and then carrying back on to Spikemuth tomorrow.  
“You can cotch at my place, if you want, Piers.” 

Piers smiled. Raihan knew him too well, and after so many times of waking up and tripping over an uninvited Piers on his floor, or on his sofa, or even one time in his bed (he’d been cold,) it seemed like he was just gonna bite the bullet and invite him now. 

Rose waved a hand expansively. “I have a guest room here that you’d be welcome to use. And I really would like to talk with you about this now.”

Piers studied Rose’s expression- he seemed aloof and benign, like always, but there was a sharp intensity in those blue eyes that gave him pause. He shrugged. “Sure. I’ll take you up on that. See you round, Raihan.” 

He’d switched to drinking water a while ago, and he refilled his glass straight from the tap after Raihan had gone, before Rose led him back to the same huge sofa that the Gym leaders had congregated around earlier.

He sat down and patted the seat next to him, then got straight to business. “The GBC still aren’t willing to pay for broadcast rights to Spikemuth, but we have had some promising offers from some companies elsewhere- KHK have made a tentative offer, and UBC are willing to pay for nonexclusive American rights- both of which would be a major boost for your Gym. I’ve also sent over a list of potential companies we want to target for sponsorships....”

Piers tried to focus, he really did, but, honestly, it all just blurred together. There was always money just on the horizon for Spikemuth Gym, and yet it always fell through. Nobody wanted to broadcast a match out of Galar with no Dynamaxing- he didn’t even have a gimmick to replace it like Raihan’s double battles.

He tiredly agreed to look over the potential leads and draft up some materials for a pitch, then let out a gust of a sigh which turned into a yawn. 

“I’m not boring you, am I?” 

Piers looked down sharply as Rose’s hand came to rest on his thigh. He followed the arm the hand belonged to back to its owner and narrowed his eyes.

Rose smiled and oh, fuck, that glint was back in his eyes again- he petted a little higher up and laughed. “Oh, come on. I heard you earlier. Don’t you want a Rolex under the tree?”

“It’d take more than a rolex.” He raised an eyebrow, seeing if Rose would take the bait. 

Rose’s smile grew impossibly wide. “Why don’t you come and sit on my lap and tell me what you want for Christmas, then.”

Piers felt the corners of his mouth creeping up into a crooked grin. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t find Rose attractive- his clear blue eyes and kind face, the way his beard accented his strong jawline, the regal way he held himself- the steel in his voice - here was someone who could fucking Dom him. 

Rose leant back a little and patted his knee, raising his eyebrows. 

“Hmmmm. It’d take at least an iMac.” He straddled Rose’s leg and looped his arms around his neck, Rose’s hands pushing under his jacket and finding purchase on his skinny waist. 

“Is that all you want?” Rose leant in to nibble on his neck and fuck, this man was married, he had a kid- but Piers didn’t stop- he shifted his hips to get some pressure against his junk as Rose pushed up his shirt to touch his bare skin, and gasped out- “N-new sound gear. For the stage at the gym.”

“Mmm?” For a man like Rose, that must be nothing. He still seemed to want more. He bit down harder, finding Piers’ favourite spots and worrying at them mercilessly. 

“Uagh- ten thousand! Donate ten thousand to the homeless shelter in the town centre!”

Rose’s teeth stilled, and he looked up at him and outright laughed. “Ten thousand? You think that your scrawny arse is worth ten thousand?”

Piers looked down at him, seeing the challenge in his eyes. He ran his hands up from Rose’s neck to cup his face, then through his hair, bending down so their lips were almost touching. “Wanna find out?” 

Rose swallowed. “Done.” 

He closed the distance between them and kissed him fiercely, but Rose was quick to slide his tongue back into Piers’ mouth and dominate the kiss. He didn’t mind- his eyes slid shut as Rose explored him, tasting him and testing his reactions, ruthlessly finding what felt best and it was all Piers could do to keep up, sucking on his tongue and pulling at the longer hair on top of his head, rocking his hips restlessly against Rose’s leg, searching for some friction that just wasn’t there at this angle.

They broke apart to breathe- Piers slid his hands inside the quilted silk of the smoking jacket and started to pull it off the other man’s shoulders, and Rose went for the buttons on his shirt, kissing and biting at the pale skin of his chest as it was revealed. 

Piers couldn’t help but arch his back and squeeze his eyes shut when Rose started in on his chest- being relatively gentle until he found his nipples and then rolling them between his teeth, forcing a moan out of him. “Aaa-aaah, Rose! Like that!” Rose lapped at the sore, reddened nipple with his tongue to soothe it before moving to the other one, all the while his hands were tracing down Piers’ back, soothing and gentle in contrast to his teeth. 

He tried to unbutton Rose’s waistcoat, but the chairman just batted his hands away and redoubled his efforts on Piers’ chest- he put his hands back on Rose’s neck, smoothing his thumbs over his hairline and trying to stop moaning. 

And then Rose slid his hands down his back and squeezed his butt, pulling him closer and he swore as his cock got something to press against- he ground up against Rose’s stomach as the other man murmured in his ear. 

“Do you have to go clean up?”

“Yeah, prolly.”

“Don’t be too long.” He squeezed his butt cheeks, then released him and nudged him in the direction of the bathroom. 

—

“Getting carried away, aren’t we?”

Piers jerked his head up from where he’d been resting it against his arm, on the sink, where he was leaning while he stuck his fingers up his arse- admittedly, cleaning up had turned into stretching out which had turned into straight-up playing with himself- but damn it, if he didn’t get at least one good press against his prostate before Rose probably started teasing him again he didn’t know if he could stand it- 

He cried out when Rose sucked on his fingers, then slid one in next to his two- and because of the angle- he was able to get in deeper, finding his sweet spot and rubbing it mercilessly - Piers moaned and sagged against the sink, his legs shaking. 

He swore as Rose pulled out and reached around the panting, shaking Piers to wash his hands, and then hooked a finger through the choker he forgot he was wearing to pull him back to the bedroom. 

He pushed him down on the bed and looked at him with a hungry smile. “Look at you, Piers. So needy.” He pushed his legs apart, takin his time running his hands over the soft skin of his thighs, then leaning in and licking a stripe up his dick. 

“Aaah, please-“ 

“Already begging for it, slut?” 

The word sliced through the air and Piers shuddered unpleasantly. 

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why not? Aren’t you doing this for money, you little whore?” 

“Fuck off with that or I’m going.” He pushed Rose away enough to glare at him. 

Rose begrudgingly nodded, and he relaxed. “Besides. I’m not a whore, I’m a sugar baby.“ He winked and hooked a leg around Rose’s shoulders. “Daddy.”

Rose grimaced. “I have a child.”

“How about we both leave off the name calling then.”

Rose grumbled to himself, but busied himself with settling into a more comfortable position between Piers’s legs, a wolflike grin returning to his face when he brushed his knuckles against Piers’ dick and it jumped noticeably. 

“Poor thing. We’ve barely started and look at this prick- you look like you’re going to go off already.” He thumbed over the head and Piers cried out- then he leant forward and swallowed him down expertly- tongue stroking the underside of the shaft while he swallowed around him, breathing heavily through his nose and reaching underneath to play with his balls, and Piers couldn’t help but outright yell. 

“Rose! Oh fuck, Rose!” Piers grabbed for his hair, clinging on for dear life as he swallowed over and over, cupping his balls and squeezing them just this side of too hard- he pulled his hair harder to get him off when his head started spinning and he could feel himself getting too close- 

“I’m gonna cum if you keep this up, Rose-“ he managed to gasp.

He tutted. “So needy. Do I have to get out a cockring?”

Piers’ dick jumped again. “Please. Fuckin’ wreck me, Rose.”

Rose pulled out the drawer under his bed and rummaged around- Piers got up on one shaky elbow to peer down with interest but he shut the drawer before he could see what kind of things the chairman had in his toy collection- quickly forgetting all about it and zeroing in on the ring Rose held delicately with his fingertips. 

He put the ring on and tightened it and Piers sobbed when he went straight back to deep throating him- it was so good, so much- and now he didn’t have to worry about holding back he felt like he was melting into the expensive silk sheets- then Rose pulled off him and pushed his legs up- he undid his trousers enough to let his cock out, stroking it and grabbing for some lube. Piers licked his lips at the sight of the chairman’s thick cock standing to attention- but he wasn’t so far gone he didn’t stop Rose with a gasped- “Go get a condom. Raw is extra.”

Rose paused- just ready to push into him- “How much?”

“Uuuuh, one hundred thou to the Red Cross.”

“Piers.” Rose looked down at him like a disappointed father. 

He just batted his eyes at him and Rose rolled a condom on reluctantly. “Even for me, one hundred thousand is a bit much.”

“You can’t put a price on safe sex- uunnngh!” Rose pushed into him, and despite all the prep it was a stretch- “Ohhh, Yeah...” 

He took it slow, but didn’t stop until he was right the way in to the hilt and Piers was gasping for breath and clutching the sheets under him. 

Rose stroked his skinny leg. “Look at you, you’re so thin and fragile, but you can take my cock like you were made for it.”

Piers just moaned- Rose was so close to where he needed it but the stretch and the burn was so good- and then he gave one firm, lazy roll of his hips that shoved Piers back on the mattress and had him wailing again- he was seeing stars- Rose hit him dead on and it rushed through him and then pooled in his bollocks, trapped behind that bloody ring- ah, but that let him keep going with this delicious torture, and he needed more, and more- Rose set up a smooth tempo, thrusting hard enough to make his balls smack against Piers, leaning over him and pushing his leg up to get a better angle for himself and that just got him deeper-

Piers was aware he was moaning and cursing and whining into Rose’s ear but he couldn’t shut up, holding on to his back now for purchase as he fucked him inside out and back again- it had been too long since he’d had it this good, and Rose could plainly tell- he was panting and keeping up a steady stream of his own muttered compliments about how well he was taking this, how he looked so good, felt so good, and then Rose came into him with a bitten-off growl, his hips stilling as he held Piers down to stop him writhing on his oversensitive cock-

Piers tried to let his breathing even out as Rose panted against his shoulder, but it was no use, he was too wound-up- and just the sensation of Rose’s softening dick in him together with the throbbing ecstasy held back by the ring was still too much- “Please, Rose, I need to come-“ he whimpered, eyes damp with tears which he was past caring about now- he sobbed when Rose pulled out of him, then stretched until his back clicked and then settled back into the pillows, leaving him alone. 

He got comfy, then manhandled the smaller man into his lap again, sitting with his back to him and his head resting on his shoulder. He eased the cockring off of him, rubbing his shoulder and kissing the side of his head when his body didn’t seem to know what to do with this new situation and his dick just jerked up against Rose’s hand- and then he wrapped his hand around him and began to gently stroke him. Piers wailed again as his climax began to build properly- he moaned into Rose’s ear “Rose! Please, I need it! Fuck me like I’m w o r t h something, Rose!”

“Oh, Piers.” He was too far gone to notice Rose’s tone of voice in response to that, or to notice how his hand sped up on his cock- all he knew was that he was finally coming, and he was drowning in blissful nothingness as he all but whited out and sagged back into his arms.


	2. Think of all the fun I’ve missed, think of all the hotties that I never kissed...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As much as Piers knows he shouldn’t, it’s just too good to pass up...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh I got carried away with this and have about 5 chapters planned you’re welcome now enjoy some more smut

He’s lonely. That’s why it happened. He’s exhausted and lonely and honestly he’d have hopped into bed with any warm body that smiled at him and told him he was pretty. (God, Piers, you’re beautiful, you’re so beautiful, said Rose in his memory, and his heart ached.) 

—-

“Where do you find all your girlfriends?” He asked Nessa, Milo and Raihan next time they met. 

None of them were much help. Nessa suggested dating apps, Milo frowned and said something about the allotment being a nice place to meet new people, maybe Piers could take up a new hobby, and Raihan just shrugged and said he met people on Grindr.

He sighed and took a sip of coffee, messing up the cartoon skitty drawn in the foam. “Anyone got any really patient single friends who will let me put my head in their lap for a couple hours and pet my hair?” He said with a laugh, but they all looked a little concerned before they said no.

—-

Why did getting a relationship have to be so hard- he was snowed under with work, job searching, music, trying to keep the gym running - going on dates just felt like more interviews to be dealing with, and nothing seemed to stick. 

It had been a couple of years since he’d last had a serious relationship, now he thought about it. He’d been the one to end it, last time, because he’d felt trapped- but now he just felt adrift. As if he could vanish from the world and nobody would care.

He shook his head crossly. Of course people would care. Marnie would care. He was still all out of sorts since she’d moved away to Hammerlocke to study English Lit- he still wasn’t used to coming home at the end of the day to an empty house, only having to buy groceries for one, and not yelling at each other for hogging the only bathroom doing their hair. 

That’s what made him so vulnerable to Rose. Rose had made it clear after their little encounter that he’d like for it to happen again, and Piers... Piers had said no, but his heart wasn’t in it. Rose was using him, sure, but he really wanted more of his gentle touch and hungry eyes and- well. The sex had been amazing, too. 

He shook his head as he fished out his keys from his pocket and opened the door to his strangely quiet little house. Even his Pokémon scurrying out to greet him didn’t seem to make as much noise as they usually would have. 

He flicked on the light, pulled a Nickit into his lap for a cuddle, and texted Marnie to arrange a meet-up.

——

Every time he went there, Hammerlocke always surprised him with how busy it was. The place was rammed with tourists year-round, but it was always especially bad at Christmas. He fought his way out of the train station, down through streets lined with fake-German Christmas market stalls, towards the university campus where Marnie said she’d meet him. Maybe this is what Spikemuth used to be like before the steelworks closed, and the cottonee mills lining the river Spike went out of business, and the mines started running out of ore. He wouldn’t know- the place was already a shithole long before he was born. 

Finally, he saw the university buildings- a tall, imposing gothic main hall, flanked by a collection of brutalist 60s buildings that looked totally out of place in the ancient city. 

Marnie said to meet by the statue in the main square at 4, but somehow he had ended up uncharacteristically early, so he sat down on the steps of one of the halls to wait. He took out his sketchbook and began to draw the students passing by- not that he was any good at it, but he was in a bit of a musical rut lately, and sometimes switching things up to a different medium got him out of it after a while. 

It was weird not being recognised, too. Back home, pretty much everybody knew him, for better or for worse, but here- he just looked like another student with weird hair sitting around waiting for class. He chewed the end of his pencil and looked over his drawings critically. Pretty crap, but he did like one of a lonely girl hunched over under her thick coat as she hurried across the square. The drawing didn’t look like her so much as it reminded him of her, and it seemed like there was a story to be told behind her sad eyes. Hm.

“Piers?” He jumped and crunched down on the end of his pencil when a clear, cultured voice called his name from behind him- he turned around to see Rose smiling and waving from the entrance to one of the buildings, coming over with Oleana in tow.

He tried to spit out the bits of pencil lead and wood splinters as discreetly as he could. 

“What brings you to the University, Piers? Thinking of taking up study?”

He shut his sketchbook and dragged himself to his feet. “Uh, no, but Marnie started here in October.”

Rose beamed. “Oh, how wonderful! I studied here myself, you know, and the current Dean and I are great friends. What is she studying?”

“English Lit.”

He clapped his hands. “Ah, how lovely. Is she settling in well? 

“She is, thanks. Better than me getting used to her being gone.” 

“I imagine it must be hard for you.” He patted Piers’ shoulder. “I must admit I have no idea what I’ll do when Georgie goes off on his studies- he’s hoping for Oxford, or maybe Stanford, but if all else fails we could send him to Circhester- how did you keep Marnie on track when she was studying? It seems like every time I turn around Georgie is playing video games instead of working.” 

“I just kind of kept out of her way and made sure she got enough food to eat when she stayed with me.” Piers shrugged. “She got enough nagging from her Mum and Dad. My mother and her father.” He explained at Rose’s slight frown.

“Ah, excuse me, I forgot about your situation. The way you take care of Marnie, it seems like you’re her parent most of the time.” 

Piers just shrugged, then his phone buzzed and Marnie yelled at him from across the courtyard, and he couldn’t help himself from rushing over to scoop her up in a hug. 

“How’re you keeping, rat?” He said, mussing up her hair.

“Better’n you, apparently.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “It’s been, what, two weeks, and you’re begging to come visit me like a little crybaby!”

“I thought I’d have to fish you out of a pile of mouldy laundry like last time.” 

She stomped on his foot and pulled out of the hug. “That was one time! Don’t embarrass me in front of everyone!” 

“I’m just telling it like it is. Have you been brushing your teeth?” 

She huffed, and gestured to the crowd of teens behind her. “Everyone, this is my lame older brother. Piers, this is Ayesha, Tommy, Olu and Lucy W.”

“Nice to meet you all.” He turned round as their eyes widened to see that Chairman Rose had caught up to him, and was smiling benignly at the group. 

“Hello, young people. Marnie- do tell me you’re keeping up with training your team? You were such a strong contender last year.”

“I’ve been kind of too busy with all this studyin’ I have to do.” She admitted, Morpeko poking his head out of her jacket pocket at her sad tone of voice. 

“What a pity. I understand that it is a lot on top of studying, though- hello, little fellow.” Rose held out a hand for Morpeko to sniff, and the little Pokémon clambered out of her pocket into his hands excitedly, squeaking as Rose expertly fluffed behind his ears. 

Marnies friends muttered their excuses and quickly dispersed. Marnie looked after them, plainly wishing she could escape too. 

“Piers, Marnie, allow me to treat you to dinner. I know the most wonderful Kantonese restaurant down by the Lieth- have you ever had Wagyu?”

When would I have had Wagyu? Piers thought, but just agreed, and Marnies expression turned a little less sour when Rose told her about the bubble tea and authentic desserts the restaurant served. 

They ambled down the hill towards the water, then turned off down one of the tiny alleyways cutting under a bridge between two buildings higher up, and carried on down a tunnel lit by bright yellow street lamps overhead, to a plain wooden door with a lantern outside being the only hint to the outside world that the building was an izakaya. 

Rose knocked and was admitted, shaking the hand of the owner who rushed out to greet him, and speaking a few words of Japanese in an accent even Piers could tell was terrible as the owner beamed and fussed over him. 

Rose slipped off his shoes, and Marnie followed his lead- Piers had to sit down and unlace his 15-hole docs, wishing he hadn’t worn them today, before they all were ushered inside. The tatami mats felt odd under his socked feet. 

They were seated by the window, at a table that was slotted into the raised floor so that there was room to put your legs underneath, and the servers brought out cutlery for Rose as they brought the menus.

“Hashi?” Asked one of the waitresses, holding up some chopsticks. “Uh, no thanks- um- Piers pointed to the knife and fork by Rose’s plate and the woman nodded with a smile. Marnie must have been feeling braver than him, because she asked for chopsticks when the waitress went to give her cutlery too. 

Rose ordered sukiyaki without even looking at the menu, and the waiter suggested a sake from the list which he smiled and ordered too. 

Piers squinted at the menu- no way was he eating wagyu sushi, uhh, wasn’t shabu-shabu meant to be raw? 

“The sukiyaki is very good, Piers.” Suggested Rose, and he gave up and said he’d have that, and some tap water too. That sake was gonna be dangerous. 

Marnie ordered katsu curry and a coconut-red bean boba drink that looked absolutely disgusting when they brought it over but she slurped away at it with relish. 

Rose did his best to converse with her- his son was about her age but he plainly didn’t spend a lot of time with him if his teen conversation skills were anything to go by. 

“Marnie, do you play Fort Night?”

She snorted. “Like hell I do. That game’s a glorified Skinner box.” She looked at her phone under the table. 

Rose blinked. “Ah.”

“Marnie!” Piers glared at her. Be nice to the man that owns the Galar Pokémon league, he thought, and she rolled her eyes. “I don’t really play video games. Does your son?” She enquired, a bit more politely. 

Rose laughed. “At times it seems it’s all he does.”

“Isn’t he only sixteen though? He can slack off a bit.”

“His GCSEs are coming up- I’m sure you remember how important they are.” 

Thankfully, the topic of exams was interrupted by their food arriving before Rose could ask how Piers did in school and be politely shocked by how terribly he’d managed his exams. 

The food was really amazing-the Tauros steak was so tender, and the accompanying vegetables and noodles in the hot pot were all cooked to perfection. Piers shut his eyes and sighed. Fuck. Why did expensive food have to be so much better? 

And why did expensive Sake have to be so much better? He cursed himself as Rose refilled his tiny saucer thing and he drank it- it burnt as it went down, and it tasted so good- even though he’d eaten he was feeling a bit light- headed. When the waitress arrived to take their plates he put his sake cup on her tray. “I shouldn’t drink anymore.” He explained to Rose, and the waitress laughed politely and nodded before another appeared with dessert menus. 

Rose merely smiled and nodded- good, because Piers was not getting drunk tonight, because drunk Piers would definitely end up forgetting he’d come here to see Marnie and end up fucking Rose again. 

Because who wouldn’t- he’d taken off his jacket and was leaning on the table in just his shirt and a red silk waistcoat, smiling at Piers with eyes that were a little too knowing. 

He wanted to feel that silk as he slid his hands around his waist, maybe sink down under the table and push his legs apart and get some dessert-

He shook his head and pointed to something random on the dessert menu without really noticing what it was- calm down, Piers- 

Marnie, thankfully, didn’t seem to notice, sneaking looks at her phone now and then, keeping up a conversation about her studies, and the Uni Pokémon trainers society Rose had belonged to that he wanted her to join. 

Dessert came, and it was excellent- Piers had a slice of Kalos-style chocolate Torte, Marnie had a mountain of fillings piled into a crepe, and Rose had a parfait with berries cut into star shapes arranged around the glass.

It was excellent, but Piers barely tasted it.

And then Marnie’s phone buzzed, and she swore under her breath- “I’m so sorry but I have to go- “ she scrambled out from under the table- “I fucked up and the essay I thought was next Tuesday was tomorrow! Thank you so much for the food, Rose, bye, Piers!” 

“Best of luck, Marnie!” Rose called.

“Hang in there!”

Piers turned back to Rose, who’s smile had turned hungry again. 

“Kids.” He shook his head. “Are you sure you won’t have more sake?” 

Piers scowled as a waiter brought over another sake cup for him and Rose trailed a patent leather shoe up his calf. 

“Rose, if you think you can buy me with fancy food- well, you’d be right- but should you? Is your wife okay with this?”

Rose smiled at him impassively. “Why would she need to know?”

“That’s pretty cold.” His heart sank as the last sliver of hope that they’d been in an open marriage and he wasn’t scum left him. 

Rose sighed and looked into his own tiny saucer of sake. “Georgie.... has been having some problems lately. My wife says I’m never around enough for him, and I spoil him when I am, and we’ve... rather grown apart as of late.” His voice dropped to barely above a murmur. “You said last time you just wanted to feel desired, to feel needed- is it so wrong of me to want that too?”

“Then you should get a divorce and find someone the honest way.”

He smiled sadly. “Ah, but Georgie. He already feels like he’s to blame for us fighting- I don’t think he could cope with his parents divorcing.”

“He’d get over it. I did.”

“Mmm, but your parents weren’t some of the most famous people in Galar. It’s hard enough keeping him away from the gossip mill as it is.“ He sipped at the rice wine, then downed the rest of his cup and pushed the jug further away. “Perhaps you’re right- we’ve had enough of this.” 

It was only then that Piers noticed that Oleana had made herself scarce some time ago. 

They talked for a while longer, Piers weakly offered to at least split the bill but breathed out a sigh of relief when Rose paid, then Rose called a corvicab for them both- they were to drop Rose off at his hotel, then continue on to Spikemuth for Piers.

It was a slightly melancholy ride. Rose still seemed to be upset by their conversation from earlier, and didn’t make much conversation other than pointing out a few Hammerlocke landmarks from the air. Piers didn’t feel like saying much either, just watching the lights sparkle on the Water of Leith below as they flew to the newer side of town towards the Budew Drop Inn. 

Then, of course, they ran into trouble with the taxi driver, who hadn’t realised that Piers wanted to go all the way to Spikemuth and refused to take him because she wouldn’t be able to get a return passenger this time of night. Rose offered to pay for both ways, which made Piers feel awkward, so he ended up getting out of the cab too and staring at the train timetable on his phone while Rose insisted that it would have been quite alright for him to have paid both ways. 

A hunk of Piers’ hair slid out from behind his ear, and he huffed, flicking his head to try to get it out of the way. Of course it just flopped straight back to blocking his view after two seconds, and he did it again, only for the offending fringe to immediately slide back this time. 

Rose reached out and tucked it behind his ear for him. His hand lingered on his face, and Piers’ resolve faltered, his eyes flicking over to look at the shorter man. 

The touch was so gentle- a noise escaped him without him meaning for it to- and then Rose was leaning in and he couldn’t stop himself from meeting him. The kiss was heated and desperate- they broke apart and all but ran inside, Rose fumbling for the lift button and once they were in private he kneaded at Piers’ cock in a way that made him mewl- he was melting- his head was spinning and he knew he shouldn’t be doing this but it was Rose’s fault, right? He was the one in a relationship? Piers was just an accessory to the crime- 

It was so good, though. He leant back against the wall of the lift to steady himself as Rose went to town on his neck- he must have been leaving marks with how hard he was sucking but he couldn’t find it in himself to complain, only moaning his approval. “Rose!”

Rose broke off from worrying at his shoulder to murmur into his ear. “Call me Gareth when we’re together.” 

Piers let out a shaky breath, and not just because the other man’s breath tickled his ear. That felt fucking intimate- almost too intimate, like he was no longer about to fuck the distant figure of his boss and nationwide celebrity Chairman Rose, but a fellow human being, somehow, and he followed Rose into his private apartment at the top of the hotel with nervous anticipation. 

Rose- Gareth- let him pull his clothes off this time, and Piers wasted no time in unbuttoning that thick silk waistcoat and crisp shirt and running his hands underneath it. He didn’t miss how Gareth seemed a little uneasy with his hands on his waist, so he resisted the urge to squeeze his plump tummy and instead ran his hands up to his chest, playing with the thick coarse hair there, and then ran his thumbs over the other man’s nipples. 

Apparently, Gareth wasn’t as affected by that as Piers always was, merely huffing out an approving laugh and going to pull Piers’s T-shirt over his head, his jacket long since abandoned on the floor with both of their shoes. 

The other man took advantage of Piers’ temporary disorientation to push him back onto the bed and take back the upper hand, running his hands over Piers’ skinny body with apparent satisfaction, judging by how he nudged Piers’ legs apart to press his erection firmly against him with a sigh. 

Piers shut his eyes as they rolled back involuntary, and bit back a moan as the hand that wasn’t holding the other man up returned to his nipple, tweaking and rolling it in his fingertips as Gareth leant down and pressed gentle kisses to his collarbones and neck. His own hands were busy- stroking down the other man’s broad back to hold onto his hips, then changing his mind and fisting one in his hair as he hiked a leg up around his waist to get more pressure on his dick.

“Rose- Gareth- fuck-“ Gareth cut him off with another desperate kiss as he ran his hand down Piers’ jeans-clad leg to pull it even tighter around him. He leaned into it, reaching around to grab a handful of the other man’s arse, moaning his approval into the kiss when he found it surprisingly firm, but still delightfully soft like the rest of him. He shifted his grip, fingers digging in to the softness of his inner thigh, and Rose chuckled. 

“Getting ahead of ourselves, are we?” He sat up, pulling Piers with him and arranging him on his lap, laughing again as he wriggled around, trying to grind his aching dick against him but thanks to his jeans and Gareth’s soft stomach, not finding much success. He slid his own hands down to Piers’s arse and squeezed, smile only growing wider as that only made Piers moan and thrash about more. 

Trying to turn the tables, Piers undid the button of Rose’s neat grey trousers and dove a hand inside, but although he did sigh and lean into it, his smile was still just as cool and unruffled as before, and he still had the co-ordination to start manoeuvring Piers out of his own skintight jeans, hands paying loving attention to each centimetre of Piers’s thighs as they were revealed, even as Piers tightened his grip on his cock through his silky briefs and began to stroke him.

Those jeans quickly became a problem- Piers had to roll off of the other man to kick them off, getting them stuck on his feet as he did so.

Gareth unhurriedly lifted his hips and shimmied out of his trousers, tossing them onto the floor, shortly followed by those red silky briefs and wrapping a hand around himself with another soft, contented sigh.

When Piers leant over to join back in, though, Gareth just laughed and pushed him off in the direction of the en-suite, getting up off the bed to follow him in. 

He didn’t leave Piers alone as he cleaned up this time, which would be kind of embarrassing, if he weren’t too busy melting under Gareth’s teeth at his neck again- the other man grabbed a hairband from the side and tied his ponytail into a bun for easier access, and then when he was bored of that and Piers was feeling a bit shaky already, grabbing some lube and plunging his fingers in alongside Piers’ to stretch him out. He couldn’t help but cry out, Gareth’s rough treatment of his arse forcing the noises out of him- and then he found his prostate again and this time he didn’t let it go- he rubbed over it, pushing Piers down over the sink to get easier access, ignoring how his cock twitched and spurted pre between his legs as Gareth’s own cock prodded the back of his thigh. 

Piers swore as Rose hooked his fingers and pulled them out of him, catching on the rim of his arsehole that was kind of painful and kind of made him need more. 

Rose washed his hands, then took the towel with him into the other room as he dried them. Piers washed his own hands and followed as best he could on shaking legs, to find Gareth reclining into the pillows, waiting for him and rolling a condom on. Piers watched as he squeezed lube over himself and gave himself a few more loving strokes, reaching underneath to play with his balls a bit before beckoning Piers to sit on his lap again. 

Piers couldn’t resist teasing him a little longer, climbing over him and leaning down for another kiss and rubbing his butt against the other man’s cock, finally getting a flustered look and bitten-off moan from him before lining up and sinking down onto him.

Oh, that was it- Gareth’s cock was as thick as the rest of him and it took some work to get him in all the way- Piers panted and worked his hips as Gareth rested his head onto his shoulder with a broken-sounding “Piers, you feel so good.” 

“Nnh, Gareth-“ 

The other man bucked up under him and that shoved right against his good spot and it was like a switch was flipped- the overwhelming pleasure just made him crave more and he growled and rolled his hips, pushing Gareth back into the pillows to get what he needed, the burn in his thighs only adding to the need surging through him- now Gareth was the one crying out as Piers’ squeezed around him, his hands going to his thighs and waist to help him go faster, harder- 

“Piers, Piers, Angel, keep going, that’s right, I need more-“ Gareth’s hand found its way into his hair and he pulled, hard, and Piers leant down and left a bite on the other man, for a change- a single mark that would match the dozens he had littered all over his neck and shoulders- and that made him arch up under him and whine in the most erotic way and that was it, Piers was coming. He made one of the most powerful men in Galar whine like a teenager getting their first handjob, that was it, he was all but seeing stars as he spilled all over his belly. 

Gareth let him have a minute- he stopped bothering to hold himself up and flopped down into the other’s arms, gasping for breath and not caring about the mess going everywhere. 

Rose made to push him off when his own erection started to flag, but Piers just rolled them over and grinned at him, grabbing his waist before he could pull out. “I want another one.”

Gareth raised an eyebrow, but gave a tentative thrust anyway. “You sure you can?” 

Piers swore as pleasure- pain pulsed through his oversensitive cock. “Nope. But I want it anyway.” 

Gareth huffed out a laugh. “I’ll see what I can do.” He rolled his hips harder, and Piers cried out. 

“Fuck, yeah, like that-“

“Greedy.” But his expression hardened as Piers squeezed around him again, prompting him to chase his own pleasure with a few more firm thrusts into the trembling, sweating man underneath him.

Piers moaned incoherently. It had been a long, long time since he’d tried for two in a row- usually he was pretty much KOed as soon as he finished, so he didn’t feel the need- but right now, when there was still such a lovely cock in him- he couldn’t let that go to waste, and he wanted to get back to that blissful, desperate headspace that Rose had had him in last time with the cockring and another good orgasm would get him there for sure. 

Gareth leant down to kiss him again, and apart from everything else, all the skin to skin contact felt amazing- the other man’s skin was soft, and warm, and he was being so gentle with him- apart from the firm thrusts of his cock which were making him see stars again- his eyes were filling with tears, it was so so good but it was getting painful as his body screamed at him to stop- so after Gareth swore and came into him, he pushed the other man off and out, gripping his dick tightly and trying to ride out the aftershocks with gritted teeth- his balls a c h e d and a little more pre dribbled out of his cock in a valiant effort to come a second time. He reached under to cup his bollocks and eventually, the tension left him and he fell back into the pillows with a sigh. “Fuck, that was good.” 

“Did you do it?”

“Not really.” He admitted. “Still felt bloody good though.” 

Gareth smirked and passed him the towel from earlier. He wiped the sweat off of his face with a cleanish looking spot and swiped at the mess on his chest and stomach with the rest, throwing it somewhere off the bed when he was done. He rifled through his jacket pockets and grabbed some nicotine gum before curling happily into Gareth’s offered arm.

“I didn’t know you were so insatiable, Piers.” 

He grinned up at the other man- it was nice, usually he was the taller one, but being the little spoon, he’d snuggled a bit further into the bed. 

“I also didn’t know that you chewed with your mouth open.” He said with a wry smile. 

“Sorry. Tryina’ quit smoking.” He said, not making any effort to chew more quietly.

“Hmm. Also- please don’t do this again.” Gareth nodded to the mark on his shoulder. “Not that it should be hard to hide from the wife, but...”

“Sorry, I didn’t think about that.” 

Rose grunted. “It doesn’t much matter. I can’t remember the last time she wanted to see me like this.” 

Piers’ arm tightened around the other man’s waist without really meaning to and he looked away so as not to see the sadness in his eyes. “You don’t need to think about that now.” Was all he said, leaning over to spit his gum into the bin and then planting his head firmly on his chest and shutting his eyes, humming as the other man’a hand found its way into his hair again. 

“You’re right.” Gareth said, and pulled the blanket up to cover them, and soon Piers was slipping into a blissful, cozy sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> itadakimasu! I have been to Edinburgh exactly 1 time lol so Hammerlocke probably isn’t that accurate but eh it’s a smut fic lol. Btw Spikemuth here is based on like northern mining/ steelworking towns that all had terrible unemployment and poverty when the industry all left so PIERS HAS A NORTHERN ACCENT I WILL FIGHT U!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the night before, and the fancy dinner after that.

The next morning, he woke up to a series of texts from Marnie asking where the fuck he was. 

He winced and texted back. “Sorry I’m safe I got plastered on that fancy sake and slept on the sofa at roses.” Which was a load of crap, he wasn’t that drunk, he didn’t sleep on the sofa- but he was a lightweight and Marnie knew it so she bought it and texted him back some black and purple heart emojis and “stay safe tosser.”

He threw the phone back on the side. Rose had even put it on charge for him. Why did he even had a charger for the shitty Alcatel- probably one of his staff had gone out to buy it. 

His staff- fuck- Oleana- would she tell? Some of the staff must be more loyal to Mrs Rose than her husband- what had they been thinking, falling asleep together like that? (They hadn’t been thinking, of course, he remembered with a groan.)

He stumbled out of bed, and stood in front of the mirror, trying to fix his clothes to cover all the FUCKING BITES Rose had left on him- Arceus- he rubbed at the one right over his Adam’s apple and glared at himself in the mirror- why did he have no restraint?! 

Eventually, he made his way into the little kitchen to see Rose there with coffee and his laptop and some breakfast laid out on the table. 

“Mornin’ Gazza.” He said, yawning. 

“Do not call me that.” Gareth glared at him and Piers grinned, despite the flash of arousal that jolted through him at the other man’s expression. 

“Just Rose will do when we’re not... intimate.” He patted the chair next to him and Piers slid in, grabbing a pain-aux-chocolat and pouring himself some coffee.

“Sure.” It was kind of sad to officially not be on a first name basis, but also a bit comforting to be more formal. 

Piers peeled the layers of pastry apart and started to pick at his breakfast, eating it one flake at a time. 

Rose stopped clattering away at his keyboard and started up a conversation. “So. How are things with your band? I haven’t seen you in the news lately- does that mean you’ve given up breaking things and playing left-wing rallies?”

Piers grimaced. “I guess. We’re kind of fighting right now.” 

“Oh.” 

He shrugged and looked away. “Yeah, we had some trouble with the label trying to screw us over, and then we started on a new   
album and it ain’t going well.” He snorted. “The others’re telling me I’m holding them back- but like - everything they write is shit? They’ve actually had a couple of gigs with a different singer lately so I think they’re gonna ditch me.”

Rose blinked. “But I thought you were the leader?”

“I am, I guess. But things change. None of those guys seem to have so many bills to pay, and runnin’ the gym takes time even in the off season, and I’ve been so busy with work lately.” 

“Ah.” Rose put his hand on his shoulder and rubbed it soothingly. “I’m sure they’ll come around. Bands break up and get back together all the time, don’t they.” 

“It kind of feels different this time.” He admitted, swirling the dregs of his coffee around in the mug. “Team Yell are being funny with me too.” 

“Mm?” Rose looked concerned. “Do you see them much outside of challenger season?”

“Varies. Some of ‘em are my friends, some of ‘em I only see when we have training events. But, like, it feels like they’ve all made an agreement not to talk to me.” He laughed again. “Maybe now Marnie’s out of town they don’t have a reason to like me anymore.” 

“Piers. You know that’s not true.” 

Piers just sank down in his chair and put his head on Rose’s lap, who obligingly began to pet his hair. 

“Why do you hate everything they write?” 

He shrugged. “I dunno. It’s just shit. Like, it’s all too derivative, or too sappy, or just... there’s something missing from it, I guess. Maybe that’s what my music sounds like to other people, though. When you don’t know what I was trying to say, I mean.” 

“Hm. I quite like your music.” 

Piers raised his eyebrows and craned up to look at Rose. “You listened to my music?” 

“Don’t act so surprised- you’ve hit the top 40 a fair few times, and you’re one of my Gym leaders to boot.”

Piers frowned. 

“I mean, you’re no Led Zepplin, but I think you have a great energy on stage. I saw you on the Telly at last year’s Turfbury festival.” 

Piers didn’t quite know how to process this new information, so slid off into a different topic. “Is that your favourite music then? Led Zep?” 

He smiled down at him. “Mm. Led Zep, T-Rex, KISS, AC/DC... a bit of Blondie every now and then. Old music, mostly.” He laughed ruefully. “Like me.” 

“Nothing wrong with the classics.”

“What are you listening to lately?”

“Lots of V-Kei from Kanto, mostly. Some Metal to keep me going in the mornings.”

“What is VK?” 

“Visual-Kei- visual style- it’s like, the spiritual successor to glam rock- everyone wears crazy outfits and eyeliner and dresses up as girls and stuff- you heard of the Gazette? Or like, X Japan?”

Rose shook his head. “Not really. I’ve not had much time for music, these days.” 

“Tch. I’ll make you listen to them sometime. Oh- KISS did a song with Momoiro Clover Z- did you see that?”

“No?“

“You have to watch that video, it’s fuckin’ art, man, like, live action mixed with animation, and like these tiny cute Japanese girls trying to fight KISS and they all have powers and shit- you have to watch it.” 

“Is this Momo Z band visual style, then?” 

“Uhhh... kind of Moe... Metal, I guess. Pretty heavy, but with like, cute little girls on vocals. It’s really big at the moment over there. You know Babymetal?” 

“I think Kabu mentioned something like that, actually.” 

“Kabu did?” 

“He’s a big fan of one of those groups.” 

Piers snorted. “So he’s a metal-ojisan, huh?” 

“You two should go to a concert sometime. Stop him trying to drag me along.” Rose said with a smile, shutting his laptop and gently shifting Piers’ head off of his lap. 

“Sorry, Piers, but I need to be making tracks.” 

Piers sat up with a sigh. “Yeah. Back to the real world.” 

“Unfortunately.” He stood up and stretched, then leant down to give Piers a peck on the lips. “I’ll see you at the Battles for the Better reception, then.” 

—-

The annual Battles for the Better charity reception was decidedly more formal than the small party at Rose’s. It was a charity dinner held in an old theatre in Wyndon, where all the execs and business folk involved with the league could pat each other on the back for the charity events held throughout the year, and then pay extortionate prices at the auction for things like the chance to ride Leon’s Charizard, or a one-on one dragon type training session with Raihan.

Piers kind of hated it- he always put something up for auction because it was for a good cause, but he hated feeling like he was a prized pony being put through its paces to raise money that these rich folks should be donating anyway. (Ironic, considering what he’d done at Rose’s party, really...) 

This year, he’d gotten out of the worst of it- he’d put up some setlists from Turfbury that he’d got a bunch of other artists to sign along with him and the band, and hopefully that would be what he’d be doing every year from now on. He shuddered as Leon stood on the stage next to the auctioneer, touting for one and a half million quid to have afternoon tea with him. 

Thankfully, it went well. They raised plenty, and the rich fucks got to feel good about themselves, and some weird older lady was two million down for an hour or so of awkward conversation and scones with the champion of Galar. Now it was time for the part that Piers was here for- butlers bringing tiny snacks, circulating amongst the crowds of elegantly dressed people like a well-timed ‘heal bell’ in a dynamax raid. 

Piers zipped through the crowd on the trail of a woman with a tray of tiny burgers, and almost bumped into the entire Rose family. 

“Excuse me!” He said, trying to slide away, but Rose clapped him on the shoulder and beamed at him, trapping him in conversation. “Piers! How are you?”

“Alright, thanks, and you?” He murmured, feeling a bit dizzy. Of course he’d met Mrs Rose before, but now- fuck- he was barely able to meet her eyes. He looked down and found the famous Georgie glaring up at him, even more sullen in person, dressed up in a little suit like a miniature version of his father. 

“Wonderful, thank you. Thank you for sourcing that setlist- what a wonderful idea!” 

“It’s all for a good cause, innit.” He said, shifting from one foot to the other awkwardly.

“I do love that blazer you’re wearing today, by the way. Very eye catching.”

He glanced down at his black and white striped blazer “Oh, thanks, it’s Primarni.”

“I haven’t heard of that tailor.” Remarked Mrs Rose, and Piers fought down his urge to hate her snooty voice. He and Rose were the ones in the wrong- she’d done nothing to him. 

“He means Primark, Mummy.” Said Georgie in an equally snooty voice. 

“Yeah- and even better- I found it in a charity shop.” He laughed nervously. “I try not to buy from primark any more because, you know, ethics, but I figure now all the moneys going to Marie curie, so.” 

Mrs Rose pointedly stared at him and Rose laughed. “I see! Well, vintage shopping and second hand is very trendy right now, and you must have an eye for finding the right clothes.”

“Hm.” Was all Mrs Rose had to add to the conversation. 

“Oh! There’s Marnie- perhaps you two will be friends-“ Rose shepherded his son towards Marnie in the distance, who looked panicked when she saw them approach. 

Mrs Rose hesitated and looked him up and down with an icy stare, her perfectly made up lips turning down at the corners a tad.

She knew. It was obvious in her glare and the way her back had stiffened the minute Rose had struck up a conversation with him. 

Piers didn’t know what to make of her. She didn’t look like a real person, more like a charicature- so neatly made up and coiffured, tucked into her silk dress and holding her purse just so. What kind of person was she? It was obvious that Rose loved his son, however misguidedly- was she willing to let her husband get away with this for her son’s sake too? 

He made an awkward half-smile and nod and all but ran to go talk to Leon.

But before he could make it to the relatively safe conversation of the champion and his circle of admirers, Kabu grabbed his elbow and gruffly asked to talk with him, practically hauling him out to the empty ticket hall. 

The older man stood in front of him with an expression that made Piers’ shoulders creep up to his ears reflexively. He didn’t know Kabu that well- he was in the southern part of the league, they didn’t get much of a chance to talk much outside of these events and were rarely paired together for battles- and usually he seemed quite nice, if a little overly focused on his training. He’d never seen him like this- he scowled at him and ran a hand through his hair, going to grab at a towel around his neck that wasn’t there and settling for straightening the lapels of his jacket. 

“You mind telling me what’s up?” Piers said, when Kabu didn’t look like he was actually going to get around to talking any time soon. What the fuck was with him today?

He should have seen it coming, but it felt like nothing could have prepared him for what the Fire-type leader said next. 

“Piers. What’s going on with you and Rose.” 

He felt like his stomach had fallen out through the soles of his feet. “Uh, what?” He laughed nervously and pushed his hair out of his face. “Nothings going on.” 

“Piers.” He narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice. “Chairman Rose is my friend. And lately, he’s been bragging about a new... partner of his. A younger man. I saw how he was looking at you earlier. Do you have a n y idea what you’re doing?” 

Piers scowled, his shock turning to embarrassment and a bit of anger, to be honest. “So what if it is me? What’s it to you?” 

“This isn’t a good idea, Piers. Like I said, he’s my friend, but the man’s broken more hearts than you have guitars.” 

“So... like three hearts?” Piers joked, trying to lighten the mood. 

“I’m serious, Piers.” He shook his head. “Don’t get involved. He’s just using you.” 

“What if I’m okay with that? What if I’m just looking for some fun? I mean, it’s been pretty fucking fantastic so far.” 

Kabu ran a hand through his hair. “You’re having fun now, but what about in two months when the next shiny new plaything comes along? He’ll drop you like that.” He snapped his fingers.

“Then I’ll have had two months of fancy food and great sex? I’m not seeing a downside here, Kabu.”

He sighed and shook his head. “Well, you can’t say I didn’t warn you. You’re an adult- you get to make your own decisions.” He put a hand on Piers’ shoulder and stared him in the eyes. “But I am here for you, Piers. If things go wrong, I’m here to talk about it.” 

“Thanks, I guess.” He shrugged Kabu’s hand away and slid out the door, texting Marnie he’d left on the way. 

What the fuck was his life. 

—-

Kabu’s intervention had left him feeling rattled, even moreso than having to make polite conversation with the woman who’s husband he was fucking. He tried to drown it out with some music on the train back to Spikemuth, but he still felt on edge when he finally got back to his house at midnight, so instead of going to bed, he found himself impulsively cutting up words from magazines and pushing them around on the floor. 

Nothing seemed to spark off- he flicked through some more magazines, looking for some more interesting words, and through the old dictionary he was ripping up, but then there were too many to choose from and he threw them to one side and grabbed the stack of collage pictures on his desk. If the words weren’t coming together, maybe some pictures would help. 

He pasted a beautiful girl from a perfume advert into his sketchbook and scribbled over her eyes, glued a few random words over the top, and then added more words, burying her as if they were all her feelings she’d left unsaid. Well now he just felt even more gloomy. He splattered some ink over the top, found a white pen and picked out some details of her eyes he could see behind his earlier scribbling. Eh. He wasn’t great at drawing. 

He left it to dry and got another sketchbook out, flipping back through the pages, looking for ideas. He found a page that looked a little bare, then dug around in his paints for some gold and smeared it on with his fingers, going back in and adding some glitter glue from the kids section too. He found a photocopy of one of the pictures for an old single cover photoshoot - it was a photo of him, facing away from the camera. He ripped it apart and stuck it in, smearing leftover paint and glitter around. Now he was just making a mess, but it felt cathartic. He went to wash his hands and grabbed his hairdryer to blast it dry, then scribbled arrows randomly over the top with a marker.

He was kind of having fun, but nothing really jumped out at him, and this was meant to lead on to something else- like a feeling he wanted to express, or some lyrics in the found poetry, or even just a colour palette that made him think of the start of a melody. 

The only thing he’d been feeling lately was tired and burnt-out, and nobody wanted to hear a song about that. That and, uh, the thing with Rose, which he felt like singing about would only cause trouble for his heart. He grabbed his guitar and laid on the floor, playing random notes and staring at the cieling. Ugh. What the fuck was he doing with his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um yes I did name Rose Gareth so that Piers could call him Gazza what of it?
> 
> (Also go watch that mcz vs kiss video I mean it it’s fuckin art)


	4. Come and trim my Christmas tree, with some decorations bought at Mercedes...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piers has A Day at work, and Rose makes it both better and worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter really shows my love for my profession of underpaid retail staff. Merry Christmas.

“Are you fucking drunk?” Marnie nudged him with her slipper and he started awake- he’d fallen asleep on the pile of papers on the floor, guitar still clutched in his hands and Zigmund had come and curled up on his legs for warmth.

“Um.” He sat up and set the guitar aside. “Would you think better or worse of me if I said I was sober.” 

“Worse.” She picked up the zigzagoon and set him on top of the guitar, then pulled her brother to his feet and shoved him at his bed.

“What time is it? He said, looking out the skylight at the pitch black sky that this time of year could mean either midnight or eight in the morning. 

“Three. Why did you ditch me at the party talking to Rose’s kid about Fallout 76 lootboxes?” 

“Kabu kind of lectured me about being a better gym leader and I panicked. Sorry.” A half-truth at best- but Marnie absolutely Could Not Know about Rose. 

“Geez. Are you sure you’re the older sibling?” 

“Nope.” 

She huffed. “Well. What time you working tomorrow- I’m heading off to Mum’s at nine so I might not see you.”

He yawned. “I have work at 2 so I might just sleep through.” He opened his arms. “Give us an ‘ug in case I don’t see you.” 

“Night night. If you ditch me like that again I’m gonna murder you with a rusty teaspoon. Love you.” She gave him a quick squeeze and then headed back to her room.

“Love you.”

—-

He woke up to a wet nose snuffling in his face as Obstagoon reminded him that she needed to be fed. “I hear you, okay.” He said, pushing the overgrown badger away and scrubbing at his eyes, getting a slobbery lick for his trouble. 

“Down.” She scampered away downstairs, and he searched about on the floor for his slippers in the pile of paper and ripped up magazines from last night, accidentally dislodging Zilla and Zim who had made a nest under some of it and squeaked at him accusingly. “Sorry gang.” He muttered, fishing his slippers out of the nest and setting off down the stairs to the kitchen, shivering in the cold morning air.

When he got there, it was to a note on the table from Marnie-“They’re filthy liars I fed them all before I left xxx”

“You guys.” He sighed and put the kettle on. “Dragged me down here for nothing.”

He leant against the counter, and then sank down onto the floor as he waited for the water to boil, and immediately three zigzagoons and a nickit oozed into his lap and cried for more food. 

“You’re all cupboard love, you are.” He said, scratching behind a few ears and fluffing a nose before re-emerging from the pile to make some instant coffee. Obstagoon looked at him from where she was curled up on the sofa, sulking with Skuntank snuggled up next to her. “You are the most cupboard love of all.” She blinked impassively and then curled up to go back to sleep.

Piers retreated upstairs with his coffee to do the same for a few more hours. 

—-

Work was work, as usual. The band wasn’t pulling in any cash and the gym was haemorrhaging money, so Piers was wrangling customers as a Christmas temp in Sparks and Spencer’s in the out of town shopping centre. It wasn’t too bad, all in all. Paid a little bit above minimum wage.

At first, he’d been worried it’d be a problem that people would recognise him, being a gym leader and a kind of well known singer, but turns out if you stick a green uniform and a name tag on anyone they become fucking invisible, even with black and white hair that stood up in wayward clumps no matter how hard he tried to style it down. A few people recognised him here and there, but, mostly, people just treated him as shit as any other badly paid store manager. 

Nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened that day- they had a run on the new high waist jeans but only in size 12 for some reason, and some git tried to return some decorations he got from another store for some cash, a few shoplifters, nothing much. Piers was in the Christmas section so he was mostly sweeping up smashed baubles and pulling toddlers out from the display trees. 

The day wore on. He managed to resist chavving a cigarette from his colleagues when they went out for a smoke, and sat chewing gum and restlessly flicking through Instagram on his break instead, wishing that he’d remembered to actually bring a bloody sandwich for once in his life because he couldn’t afford to waste money on buying one out. 

His break was cut short- he spit his gum out and put his phone away with a sigh when one of the younger boys peeked in and timidly said that there was a lady out there asking for a manager and he was the only one he could find. It turned out to be a very sweet little old lady who wanted a garland but couldn’t afford the £20 price tag and wanted it reduced. His heart sank as her face fell when he told her he had to say no, and she clutched the garland tighter like a toddler with a favourite toy.

“But it has little robins on it.” She said, not quite understanding. “I really like it, but I can’t afford to spend £20 on a garland. Are you sure you can’t do something?” 

He shook his head and spread his arms. “What do you expect me to do? I can’t just magically change the price- it costs that much because it costs that much!”

“But can’t you do anything about it? It’s awfully dear. Look- this robin is a bit loose- can’t you reduce it as damaged?” 

“I’m sorry but I can’t. I would if I could. Look- we have a similar robin on this ornament-“

“I don’t like his face.” She cut him off and he wanted to scream. “I like these ones. Could you get a manager?” 

“I a m the manager.” 

“Could you get another one?” 

He was about to go ring for another manager just to pass this lady off on someone else, but then a smooth voice interrupted them. 

“I’d like to speak to the manager as well, please.”

He looked up sharply. “Rose?” 

The chairman smiled at them handsomely. “Hello, Piers.” 

“Hi.” He said weakly. He could not deal with this today.

“I was speaking to him first- he needs to reduce this garland for me and he says he won’t. Make him do something about it, Mister Rose!” Said the lady, gesturing at Piers. 

“I just told you, I can’t.” 

The lady looked like she was about to cry. “But I can’t afford it.” 

“My dear-“ Chairman Rose cut her off, touching her arm and smiling down at her. “I’ll buy it for you.” He pulled out his wallet. “I’ll have to put it on my card, though, I don’t have any cash on me.” 

“Would you? Oh! You’re so kind.” She turned and glared accusingly at Piers. “He’s a REAL gentleman, you know.” 

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “What a lovely thing to do. I’ll go put this through the till for you.” 

He waited until the lady had thanked Rose a dozen times and called Piers even more names, and had her garland securely wrapped up in her little trolley and was toiling along towards the bus station before he muttered. “If you lot paid more taxes then maybe little old ladies could have nice things without worrying about paying for their heating.”

Rose smiled impassively and gestured for one of his staff to bring their packed trolley up. Piers rolled his eyes but started to scan it through. 

“You need any five p bags?”

“Yes I will, thank you.” 

“Next time, get one of your staff to bring some, you bloody turtle murderer.” He muttered, shaking out a single-use bag and plonking Rose’s stuff in there. He’d got all sorts- stuffed toys, some perfume, gift sets of toiletries- some cozy pyjamas- maybe he was Christmas shopping. In Spikemuth, for some reason. 

“What a r e you doing here, anyway?” He asked Rose, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice and distinctly getting the impression that he was failing. 

“Oh, the league is trying to start more community events in the area, and I wanted to take a more personal role in it this time around.” Rose said without batting an eyelid. “Would it be possible for me to get a discount on this?” He said, holding up a box of lights with torn packaging. 

“No. It’s fine.”

Rose raised both eyebrows and Piers shrugged and grinned. “Sorry. Policy’s policy.”

Rose seemed kind of cross. “But I’m bringing all this business to your store.”

He just smiled his blandest retail smile. “Thank you very much for shopping with us, have a nice evening!”

Now it was Rose rolling his eyes. “Speaking of evenings, what time do you finish?” 

“11. I’m closing tonight.”

Rose pouted. “Any chance of you leaving early?”

Piers burst out laughing. “Have you ever even b e e n to a shop, Rose? It’s not happening! I’ll see you when I see you.”

—-

‘When I see you’ ended up being sooner than he thought.

The shortish walk home always felt longer after a closing shift in the pitch black, and it was pissing it down with freezing cold rain. 

He frowned and sped up when he rounded the corner and saw his terrace house in the distance- a light was on downstairs, but he hadn’t left any on. And Marnie was still in Hammerlocke. 

He unlocked the door and banged it open, shaking off his dripping hair and herding Pokémon back inside out of the rain, and then looked up to see none other than Chairman Rose lounging on his couch, flicking through an old magazine like he owned the place. 

Piers glared at him, grinding his teeth when he saw the other man hadn’t taken his shoes off on the admittedly threadbare carpet.

He pulled his own boots off and threw his coat over a chair. 

“I thought you were supposed to be back at 11.” Said Rose, putting the magazine aside and leaning back into the cushions. 

“No, I finished at 11. I had to walk home. How did you get in?”

“Under a plant pot is not a very imaginative place to hide a key, Piers.”

He slumped against the door and sighed, feeling defeated. “Rose, I’m exhausted. I’m not having sex.” 

“I know. I brought you dinner.” The other man gestured to a bag on the table. 

Piers narrowed his eyes. “I mean it. Nothing is going in Piers’ butt.”

“Go and change out of those wet clothes before you catch a cold.” Rose said, pulling out his phone and tapping at it with one finger. 

—-

Piers came back down the stairs in baggy pyjamas and slippers- he didn’t care that Rose was here, he just threw the ones he wore last night back on- they were ratty old ‘little primarmaid’ ones that Marnie had got him for a joke a while ago that he’d ended up just using because they were pretty cozy. 

Rose bit back a smile as he stomped into the kitchen, peering at the cardboard sleeves to the fancy ready meals the chairman had bought. 

“There’s shepherd’s pie or lasagna.” Rose opened a pack of microwave veggies and squinted at the buttons on Piers’ microwave before carefully placing the packet in the centre and shutting the door. 

“I’m still not having sex with you.” Piers said, grabbing some plates and glasses.

“Let’s eat in the lounge.” Rose gestured over to the sofa in the corner of the downstairs room. Piers side eyed him but put the stuff down and grabbed a blanket to wrap up in while he waited- it was actually pretty cozy, in his house, which meant that Rose must have cranked up his heating to max and the rickety old boiler was clearly not happy, juddering and clanking away in the hall. Piers’ heating bill was not gonna be happy either, but he couldn’t quite be bothered to go all the way out into the hall to turn it off when the damage had already been done. 

He snuggled down and closed his eyes.

“Eat something, Piers.” Rose woke him up and he grumpily flailed at him, still tired and disorientated. The food does admittedly smell pretty good but he hadn’t eaten all day so by now he was way past hungry and now just feeling sick, and he couldn’t be bothered. 

“You have to take care of yourself even when Marnie’s not here, you know.” Rose pulled the blanket off his head and put a tray onto his lap. 

He grabbed the shepherd’s pie and retreated back into his blanket. 

“I mean it, Piers.” Rose said, a little more sternly- he grabbed the wrist he was holding his fork with- his hand curled around his arm easily and he stroked the inside of his wrist with his thumb. “You’re just skin and bones, Piers.” He said, softly. 

“Whatever.” He ate the vegetables first- they were nice and bland, matched his mood. He was so tired everything tasted funny anyway. 

His eyes drooped closed again when he was about halfway through the shepherd’s pie so he abandoned the rest for Obstagoon to immediately steal and curled back up again. 

Rose put his arm around him and pulled his head onto his chest. He was nice and warm, even through the thick silk of his waistcoat, and he could hear him breathing. “Why are you here?” He muttered, so quietly it was almost just to himself. 

“I just wanted to take care of you, Piers.”

He grumbled something but couldn’t be bothered to protest as Rose’s fingers threaded through his hair and started to massage his scalp. 

“Speaking of- what colour decorations would you like on your new Christmas tree?” Rose had his phone out and was flicking through photos on a website- “How about deep red with gold? Or- a white tree- and some silver and blue?” He angled the screen down to show Piers the photos.

“Very frozen 2.” He joked, then caught up with what Rose was saying. “Wait, what? I don’t need a tree.” 

“Piers.” Rose wrinkled his nose and looked over at the corner, where his and Marnie’s tree stood. Or, leant on three of the four legs and one pile of books to replace the missing leg. 

“I like my tree.” Both he and Marnie loved the tree, in fact- they called it the Poundland tree because they’d found the black Christmas tree in tkmaxx a few years ago and then gone on a spree to all the cheap shops for purple and silver decorations. Over time it’d been filled in with whatever else they found in charity shops and their old decorations, and some Halloween tinsel Marnie had bought with tiny pumpkins on. It was a mess, but it made him smile every time he looked at it, and every year they both tried to find the ugliest decorations they could to add to it as presents for each other. (This year, he’d got Marnie a hideous glass frog with a Santa hat on, and he couldn’t wait to see her face when she opened it.) 

Rose scoffed. “Christmas isn’t about making do, Piers- look, what about something like this?” He showed Piers a picture of an admittedly stunning tree- dripping with purple and teal decorations with flashes of gold here and there. He realised it was probably the website for the tree designer Rose hired to decorate for him- it was the same kind of tasteful, yet hideously overdone kind of tree you’d see in a Unovan Christmas movie. and Rose’s apartment. 

“The tree stays, Rose.” He snorted at the thought of having one of those trees in his shabby house- it’d look ridiculous. “Christmas is about enjoying time with your family, and me and Marnie enjoy our Poundland tree.”

“Poundland tree.” Rose repeated, pouting even more.

“Those are priceless family heirlooms, Rose.”

“That is about twenty pounds worth of tat from the 99p store and you know it.”

Piers laughed and slid down to lean against Rose’s stomach. “Mm, but some are from my Grandpa.” He pointed. “That bell over there, and the birds, and the wooden marching band figures. And Marnie made a couple of the really crappy looking ones.”

Rose huffed out a laugh. “My wife won’t let any of Georgies arts and crafts anywhere near the tree.”

“She’s got it all mixed up.” Piers murmured, falling back to sleep.

“Oh- that reminds me- I need to get the specs for the sound gear and the iMac I promised you...” Rose trailed off when the younger man started to snore, and sighed. “What are we going to do with you, Piers?”

—-

Piers woke up next the morning in his bed, somehow.

Fuck- how did he get up there? Did Rose have someone carry him?

He frowned and fuzzy memories surfaced of being picked up, and the gentle rocking as Rose walked up the stairs with him, Piers half asleep and nuzzling into his shoulder.

“You’re like a ragdoll, Piers, honestly.” Said the Rose from last night.

Ugh. His mouth tasted like dirt from not having brushed his teeth. He checked his phone- he’d woken up to an alert that he was due back at work in two hours- thank fuck for technology, or he’d have been put like a light all day. 

He yawned and padded downstairs, squinting at the smell of coffee. 

Rose had gone, but there was a red espresso maker on the stove, and a packet of fancy ground coffee next to it. It was open but the top was neatly rolled over, and it’s missing contents still warm in the pot. He flicked the stove on to bring it back to the boil, and went to the fridge for some milk. 

He blinked. Where yesterday there had only been a few sad looking carrots and a Tupperware of some leftovers from last Tuesday he hadn’t got around to eating, it was now full of the same brand of healthy, yet very expensive ready meals he and Rose had eaten last night.

Oh, and a note. 

“Remember to eat your veggies! x”

Well fuck. 

He bit his lip. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a partner who didn’t need constant attention and caring for- somehow, even most of his one-night stands ended up leaning on him for emotional support about their exes or gay crises or whatever. He was used to it- Marnie was still only just old enough to take care of herself and still had to be nagged to go to bed on time- but having someone else want to put in the work of caring for a burnt out, depressed guy like him- it felt wrong, in a way he desperately wanted more of. 

He realised he was crumpling the note in his hand and smoothed it out carefully, before pinning it on the fridge with a magnet Marnie had sent him from Circington World of Adventures one time. 

Maybe he was just pretending so he could get more sex. He knew from experience that people just loved a broken man- he was a desperate, generous lover, always eager to please and there was nothing he loved more than to have his partners clinging to him, telling him how good he was being as he fucked them to heaven and back. 

But, after so long of less than nothing, he was pretty desperate for any kind of affection, and to have someone see him in his ripped up old pyjamas, falling asleep on the sofa after a nine hour shift, and not want to talk his ear off about their own work, or need to be taken somewhere or a meal cooked or their ego soothed about how he wasn’t ignoring them he was just fuckin’ tired, and just get him some food and put him to bed... he was in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops I revealed my ultimate kink- a kind and supportive partner who will make me food and let me sleep on them. Welp. 
> 
> Also I desperately need help- is it Piers’ or Piers’s?!?! Neither looks right lol


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Choo Choo futhermuckers it’s the motherfucking smut train next stop Piers in thigh high boots, alight here for some light bondage and services to Piers getting thoroughly rekt.

He should break it off. The other day had been a fluke- It wasn’t hard to guess that Piers was tired and wasn’t eating properly- the panda bags under his eyes and his ribs showing through his gym uniform showed that- and Rose plainly had a thing for spoiling people, so of course he wanted to take care of him. It wasn’t as if he cared about him more than as a means to an end. And maybe as a mediocre trainer when he wasn’t trying to get Spikemuth relegated to the championship leagues. 

He whistled, and Stardust came out from wherever she’d been hiding and snuggled into his lap. He pet the little zigzagoon’s ears with a fond smile, and she crawled up his shirt to cuddle against his chest. 

— 

Rose left him alone for a while, after that. Well, for a week- Piers was swamped with prep for the Christmas concert that he and the band had agreed to prior to their breakup, and were all trying to put aside their differences and get through so they didn’t have to eat the money they’d put up for the venue. It wasn’t going great, but even though they were barely talking to each other, they could at least hammer through the songs on the setlist from memory and keep time with each other like professionals. 

They’d been hoping to debut new material at this concert, back when they’d planned it in September and the fights they were having over the album’s direction seemed like normal bickering. How had everything gone to shit in such a short time? 

He’d been busy with the gym, but that was only a couple nights a week, and he was busy with work, but he’d been working that temp job every year for the past four years and it’d never left him this burnt out before.

He tried to push his worries to the back of his mind for now, and just focus on getting through this. 

It’d been a while since they’d last played, and he was feeling fancy so he’d gone all out with his makeup and outfit- he went through phases of wanting to do makeup and then hating the whole beauty industry and how they’d wormed their way into rock and roll of all things- but today he felt like it, so he had smokey eyes like a thirteen year old goth with their first eyeliner pencil and some bright red lipstick because. Well. He would say it was because he liked the way it looked, but he was also feeling a little slutty tonight, missing Rose’s company more than he wanted to, and so he pulled on some short shorts and thigh high boots with the black velvet waistcoat covered in chains instead of the skinny jeans and calf height boots he’d planned on. 

The rest of the lads were getting ready around him. Mike, the bassist, shot a look at his outfit and raised an eyebrow, but he just glared at him until he looked away. 

They waited backstage. He could hear the pounding of the music and the roar of the crowd, almost a thousand people yelling over each other trying to have a conversation, chants breaking out every now and then. He spat out his gum and took a deep breath. 

And then it was time- all his worries melted away as he bounded on stage and roared into the mic- “EY UP, SPIKEMUTH! It’s been a fucking minute so we’re gonna get right to it- LET’S GO!” 

The band launched straight into one of their most popular numbers and the crowd went crazy-the pounding bass and rumbling guitars shot through him and he snapped back into performing mode- he swayed his hips and leapt about the stage to the music, adrenaline pumping through him as he shouted and sang and played rhythm through pure muscle memory. It felt so good, every note he played boomed out of the speakers, the audience hung on to every word he sang, all eyes were on him, and he was lapping up the attention like nobody’s business. He danced like a slag at the best of times, but today he couldn’t stop himself- every time he put the guitar down for a song he wasn’t rhythm on he strutted and ran his hands over his body and shook his hips- the crowd were just eating it up, judging by the screams from the front row and the stretched out hands reaching across the barrier. 

He put a leg up on a speaker and leant over, stretching out a hand to them, letting them touch him and basking in their desperate gazes and clasping hands, aching to touch him, see him, just hear him- just for tonight, he was everything to them- he wasn’t just some nobody working a shit job, he wasn’t just some piss-poor goth kid from Spikemuth, he wasn’t even Piers getting used by Rose- tonight, he was a force of nature, a dream brought close enough to touch, a star come down from the heavens to sing for them. 

The show flew by in a blur- the band seemed to click back together when they played, cranking out the old favourites- including a cover of ‘Your love is my Drug’ which he’d had another argument with the drummer over whether they should play it tonight. The audience ate it up and he tried not to think about Rose as he swayed and crooned into the mic. Then the big finale came all too soon- he was sooo glad he was playing rhythm for the last few songs because he was pretty sure he got fully hard for a while from all the attention and adrenaline- 

And then it was over- he was yelling into the mic for the audience to fuck off with asking for an encore, his voice was busted, and to have a great night and look after themselves til he saw them next- they screamed for an encore anyway and he blew them a kiss and told them to go fuck themselves as the rest of the band left the stage.

Then he was being pulled into a sweaty group hug with the other guys backstage- Suresh the drummer thumped him on the back and told him he was great and then Nicky the lead guitar shoved him and told him to “stop getting off on it, you tosser.”

He cackled and ground his crotch against his guitar with an exaggerated moan. “But I just looooove the music so much!” 

Mike threw a bottle of water at his head and he caught it, draining it in one and gasping for breath. “Fuck. That took it out of me, though.”

“No kidding, you sound like you sandpapered your throat.” Suresh said, peeking round the corner to the back of the merch stand, trying to see if they were selling anything. “If we don’t sell the last of those bloody Halloween tees from last year I’m setting them on fire.” 

“If you buy ‘em you can set ‘em on fire now.” Said Nicky, collapsing onto the sofa and pulling off his boots. 

“Hey- my design wasn’t that bad.” Mike protested, shaking out his arms and then popping his back.

“It kind of was, though.” Piers said, flopping onto the sofa and shutting his eyes, breathing deeply. He wasn’t hard anymore so he’d put the guitar aside, but he was still so wired he felt he would be at the slightest touch. 

“You guys are all bitches.” Mike pulled a hoodie on and wandered down to the merch stand to try to push some of his awful t shirts. 

—-

After the crowds had had some time to disperse, Piers and the others headed out the back door to take a few photos with fans and sign some shit before going home. Piers’s taxi driver looked perplexed when she pulled up, and he didn’t really blame her- he’d left the makeup on to take photos in, and so he could cleanse his face properly and get the product out of his hair in a relaxing bath, and probably jerk off a bunch, too- he was still floating in the after-show mix of wired and exhausted and he just wanted to f u c k something. 

Of course, the lights were on in his front room again, and he opened the door to find Rose there. He rolled his eyes. “You’ve gotta stop just showing up, mate.” 

He chucked his bag next to the sofa and collapsed down with a groan, pulling his boots off and flexing his toes to try to ease the ache in his calves from wearing heels for so long.

“Well, usually I would try to give some notice, but- I saw some videos of you performing earlier, and I had to drop by to show my appreciation.” Rose smirked and showed him a grainy video of the Kesha cover playing on his phone. 

“You like me like this, huh?” Piers cracked a grin and ran a hand over his leg. 

“Come here.”

Piers sat down in his lap, getting comfy as Gareth ran his hands down his bare thighs. “You didn’t shave.”

“Nah, I kinda dig the contrast. Besides, I’m not tucking this away and it kind of gives the game away dunnit.” He palmed his dick which the tight shorts showed off very nicely, if he said so himself. 

Rose grunted in approval, running his hands over the cropped waistcoat and clinking chains over it, appreciating the leather straps on his bare arms, the choker at his neck- he stroked the bare skin under the waistcoat, following the neckline down to the buttons and flicking them open- and then he went straight for Piers’ nipples and he moaned and arched forward- they’d been peaked and rubbing against the lining of the waistcoat all night and now they were so sensitive. Gareth nibbled at his neck and teased them gently, pinching the reddened buds and palming at what little meat Piers had on his chest. 

Piers just leant his head against Gareth’s and enjoyed it- he was definitely headed towards the exhausted stage of the adrenaline rush- his legs shook as he ground against Gareth and he cried out and grabbed for his hair when he sucked a nipple into his mouth, spending far too long nibbling and biting it but Piers could hardly bring himself to make him stop even to move things forward.

“Gareth,” he choked out after a particularly hard bite, “Gareth, I gotta get these shorts off- they’re dry clean only and I’m fucking- gonna jizz all over them- “

“But I like them so much.” Gareth palmed his ass, and in this position the shorts didn’t even cover the bottom of his cheeks and he shivered. 

“You’ll like what I have on underneath.” He murmured. He stood up to pull them off and Gareth groaned when he saw- the black thong had been barely big enough to keep his bollocks contained before but now it was just woefully inadequate as his dick strained against it- Gareth leaned back and palmed himself through his trousers. “Fuck. Piers.”

He unzipped himself and pulled his cock out, thumb spreading around the drops of pre at the tip. “You look so... debauched.” 

Piers smirked, leaning over him, leaving the waistcoat flapping open and the cold metal chains brushed against his skin- he pulled Gareth’s jacket and shirt off to let them brush against him, too- the older man actually mewled when he sat back in his lap, pressed the cold metal and his hard dick against him, and ran his nails down his back. 

“Piers!” 

He did it again, then gripped his hips and ground down harder. Gareth grabbed the side of his face, stroking his jaw and then sticking his thumb into Piers’ mouth. He nibbled at it and lapped at the salty taste of his skin, then closed his lips around it and suckled on it, getting another desperate noise out of Gareth. 

“I need to see those pretty red lips around my cock, Piers.” He groaned. 

“That can be arranged. My voice is gonna be wrecked tomorrow anyway.”

Piers licked his lips, not missing how Gareth’s eyes tracked the movement of his tongue. 

Then he dropped to his knees, pushing Gareth’s legs apart and nuzzling at his dick- quite a familiar sight by now but no less lovely- he made a big show of kissing and nibbling it before closing his lips around it- his eyes flicked up to Gareth’s face. Now that he thought about it, it was the first time he’d sucked him off, he remembered, looking into his wide eyes. He pulled off with a pop and gave him a few little licks, pumping the length in his hand. He lapped into the slit as more pre oozed out and then went back for more- it took a few teary-eyed swallows and he fought his gag reflex but then Gareth’s cock slid into the back of his throat and he took him all the way, until his nose was buried in his pubic hair and his eyes were watering. 

Gareth was almost crying at the first swallow, one fist shoved in his mouth to try to keep quiet and the other weakly petting Piers’ hair.

“Piers, this is magnificent, oh- oh- I needed this-“

Piers swallowed harder, pressing his tongue against the underside and huffing out a breath through his nose. 

Gareth’s high-pitched cries were music to his ears. He pulled back off for a break, breathing heavily, stroking his throat with one hand and the other man’s dick with the other. “You’re quite a mouthful, Gaz.” He said, coughing to try to clear his throat when he heard how wrecked his voice was. 

“Nnnh, please, keep going, I’m so close-“ Gareth was lying back against the cushions, panting for breath and one hand over his face- the other found the top of Pier’s head and pushed him down a little. 

Piers smiled and leant back down- but then snorted and looked back up. “Have you seen that meme- like- ‘when he asks if you spit or swallow but you gargle?’”

Gareth laughed weakly. “Piers. Please do not gargle with it when I finish or I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Piers just grinned and raised an eyebrow- and Gareth was clearly going to say more but then he swore and curled around himself when Piers sucked hard on him before moving back down. 

Gareth shifted to lie back on the sofa, and Piers took the opportunity to play with his balls, teasing around and then behind them, running his fingers over Gareth’s arsehole and noticing how it twitched and his dick jumped. He pressed a little harder. 

“Piers- please- I’m so close-“ Gareth pleaded, weakly stroking his hair. 

He swallowed around the shaft one more time before pulling up to suck the tip properly- and then Gareth was wailing and his mouth was being shot full of salty come. 

He went to swallow- but then- opened his mouth and looked Gareth in the eyes.

He looked aghast. “No- no!” He Grabbed Piers’ hair and pulled. “No. Swallow it. Now.” He barked. 

Piers did- “That was surprisingly hot.“ He rasped. 

Gareth took a few more deep breaths. “Let me tell you what to do some more.” He murmured. “Go get cleaned up...” He ran his hands over the leather straps on Piers’ arms. “Judging from these, it almost looks like you want to be tied up...”

He gulped. “Yeah, seems like.”

His adrenaline was back- his body was thrumming with excitement and nerves when he ducked out of the bathroom to find Gareth reclining on the bed wearing nothing but a condom and a hungry smile. 

He patted the spot next to him. “Show me.” 

Piers gulped. 

“Red, yellow or green?”

“Green.” He crawled onto the bed and Gareth spread his ass and inspected it- he hung his head and he was pretty sure he was red as a corphish but Gareth just grunted and gestured for him to sit up. 

“Where are your toys?”

“Um, under the-“ Gareth darted to the wardrobe he pointed at, pulling out the box and inspecting its contents- he smiled and Piers couldn’t tell at what. 

“Ties? Straps? Rope?”

“Uh, there should be some cuffs in there.” He said, still on all fours and craning over his shoulder to look at the other man. 

“Mm.” Gareth pulled out the flimsy looking cuffs and tsked. “I’m pretty sure even you could break these.”

“Yeah. Not sure if I could handle being properly tied down, you know?”

He grunted and opened them. “How about these, now? And if you don’t break them, I’ll give you a reward.”

“What’s the reward?” He turned over slowly, but then Gareth was in his lap and he laid back to allow him to cuff his hands to the headboard. 

“Mmmm, I haven’t decided yet.” He pulled out a cock ring. “Green?”

“Oh, fuck yeah it’s green.” He shifted his hips and moaned softly as Gareth put it on, then pinched his nipples harshly. 

“I’m surprised you don’t have any clamps for these, seeing how sensitive you are.”

“Mm, Gareth-“ he couldn’t really reply- he was too busy trying not to think about the throbbing pressure around the base of his dick and the toe-curling pressure Rose was pulling from his nipples, and then the extra softness of the other man’s generous arse against his dick when he straddled him and sat down, rubbing his arse against him. 

A chunk of his hair flopped onto his face, dislodged from where he’d shoved it behind his ear with how he was thrashing around- Gareth pushed it back for him, then smoothed a hand over his cheek and down across his throat. 

Piers glared at him when he pushed down a little- “Gareth, if you try to choke me, I will punch you.”

The hand retreated. “Noted.” 

Gareth leant off to the side and rummaged through the toys in the box, leaving Piers for too long- his neglected dick throbbed and he shifted about, trying to get any kind of stimulation.

Gareth finally decided on a toy- a thick vibrator with a handle, nice and smooth texture, not quite as thick as Gareth’s dick even flaccid, easy to slide in. He slicked it up and teased at Piers’ ass, flicking it on and rubbing the skin behind his balls- he flexed his arms uselessly and cried out- he couldn’t stop being so loud. 

“Get it in me, Gareth. I need it.” The vibrations were intense and his bollocks were already aching from the ring- and it was almost worse when the other man delivered and slid it straight in- wiggling it and pressing into his prostate with a smirk when Piers wailed, leaning forward to lick the pre off his leaking cock. 

“Oh, Gareth- more, please, more-“ 

“Be patient, Piers, you have to wait for this.” Gareth paired his soothing words with a viscious twist of the vibrator, and then leant back to stroke his own cock, already swelling up again. 

“Not too long, darling.” He turned- the vibes up and Piers wailed as his body tried to come, pulling at the cuffs so hard that the bedframe creaked. 

Gareth fucked the overstimulated and shaking Piers with the toy a while longer until he was ready to go himself, then pulled the toy out and thrust in. 

“Ahhh, Piers, your arse is heaven.” He groaned as Piers tightened around him, legs kicking out weakly, trying to get purchase on something. 

In a moment of clarity, Piers craned his head to try to wipe drool off onto the pillow. Gareth leant down and wiped it for him- then stroked his eyebrow with a thumb and planted a kiss on it, then stroked his face again before picking the pace of his thrusts back up. 

“Gaz, I need to come.” Piers moaned, then tried to muffle a breathy scream into his arm when the other man hit his prostate yet again and reached round to tease his neglected cock. 

“Gareth, Gareth, please, I’m green but only if you let me come NOW- aaah- Gareth!” 

His hips slowed and then Piers swore as he unclipped the ring and he snapped the handcuffs without thinking to wrap his hands around his aching dick, whole body convulsing and Gareth groaned as he clamped down around him. 

“Nearly- ugh.”

Rose nudged his hands away from his dick and smirked. “Naughty.” He flicked the broken cuff around his wrist then grabbed his hands and pushed them back up above his head. “Okay?” 

“Yeah- uuunh-“ Gareth drove back in to him, holding his wrists punishingly hard and Piers came as he struggled against his hold. 

Gareth released his hands and leant heavily on his elbows, panting and flushed. “How are you?” 

Piers slid his fingers into his hair and pulled, mussing it up and not missing how the other man arched into his touch. “All good. Green. Pound me ‘til you finish.” He hiked a shaking leg up around Gareth’s waist and the other man shuddered. 

“Don’t mind if I do.” He muttered, and jerked his hips forward, making Piers see stars. 

—-

They dozed together for a while, sweaty and sticky and thoroughly fucked-out, Gareth still half on top of Piers with his head on his chest as he pet the other man’s hair. 

“Oh, man, between that and the heels I don’t know how I’ll be walking tomorrow.” Piers said with a grin.” 

Gareth looked up, concern softening his features. “Sorry- was I too rough on you?” 

“Nah, ‘s just the heels, really. ‘S why I don’t to drag anymore- bloody high heels are murder on your legs.” 

Rose hummed. “If you do do it again, I’d love to see.”

Piers snorted and crossed his arms behind his head. “Oh, you’d love my character. I called her Penny Poundland and she’s always broke- she’d eat a rich guy like you right up.” 

Rose laughed. “It shows that you’re an artist- you’re much more creative than me. I just called my character Rosie.”

Piers propped himself up on his elbows to look down at the other man. “What? You used to do drag?”

Gareth flapped a hand dismissively. “Oh, I used to be quite wild in my uni days. It’s how I met my wife, actually. I don’t think she was ever as keen on me as when I was dressed up as a woman. Hah.” 

“Oh, I need to see pics of that.” Piers fell back into the pillow and let his eyes drift closed. 

——

The next morning he woke up to smudged makeup and filthy sheets and Gareth cuddled around him like a komala. He flailed around for his phone and rolled out of bed. 

The other man groaned and stirred a little. “What fucking time is it?”

“Eight. I gotta be at work by Ten.” Piers grimaced at the sound of his voice- he really had overdone it last night, hadn’t he. 

“Ugh.” The other man flopped face first into the pillow and Piers grinned. Who’d have thought that Chairman Rose would be so grumpy in the mornings? 

“You can sleep in. I’ll give you the spare key so you can lock up.” He ruffled the back of the other man’s hair. “Please do stop just dropping by unannounced though- or one of these days you’ll bump into Marnie and she’ll flip her shit.” 

“Noted.” 

——

When he got back from work, he breathed a sigh of relief upon opening the door to the lounge to see Marnie and no Rose. His sister was lying out on the couch surrounded by scribbled pages of notes, folders, library books and empty plates, ignoring it all in favour of braiding plaits into the long fur at the tip of Skuntank’s tail. 

“Yo bro.” 

“Hey, Marnie.” He bent down to pet the group of nickit and zigzagoon that crowded around his feet begging for treats, wincing as soreness shot through his legs.

Skuntank looked up at him balefully and gave him a long-suffering sigh before curling back up to nap.

“Bro, you look like shit.” Said Marnie, abandoning her hairdressing to pick up her coursework again. “Like, worse than usual.” 

“Thanks, rat.” He said, going to put the kettle on. “Do you want any tea?”

“Coffee please. I mean it though- is something up?”

He smiled at her tiredly. “Nah. Just not sleeping enough. Got too many shifts and I had a show last night.” He hated keeping secrets but honestly? He could no way ever talk to anyone about this, much less Marnie. He couldn’t just waltz up and be all “Ok so um in a really bad way and I’m fucking my boss and I’m such a pathetic guy I can’t even scrape together the courage to tell him to fuck off, how are you?” She was barely eighteen, and to be honest their discussions of sex had begun and ended when he emptied the basket of free condoms over her head at the clinic and told her to be safe when she was newly sixteen and told him she had a boyfriend. And he would like to keep it that way.

He slipped upstairs and had a quick whip-round for incriminating evidence- Rose hadn’t even put his sheets in the wash, the bastard, and he’d left his socks and underwear on the floor- judging by the open drawers of his dresser, he’d apparently stolen some of Piers’, and he snorted thinking how tight even his baggiest boxer shorts would be on the larger man- he shut those drawers sharpish in case Marnie came in, and bundled Rose’s clothes up in the stripped bedsheets. Okay.

He padded downstairs and chucked the whole lot into the washing machine, then remembered his shorts must be somewhere on the sofa and poked around the edges of Marnie’s study nest to try to find them. 

“Yo, if you’re looking for those skanky shorts I chucked them in the wash.” Marnie said, barely glancing up from her essay.

“Oh, shit, really?” He bolted over to the washing machine, but it was too late- the fake leather shorts rolled around in the soap suds, clearly visible in the little window. He tugged at the door forlornly. “Ugh, Marnie! They were dry clean only! Now they’ll disintegrate and I’ll be picking bits of PVC out of my laundry for months.” 

Marnie just cackled and pointed to the clotheshorse full of her washing by the radiator. “That’s why I did my washing before I got here.” 

Piers banged her cup of coffee down on the table in front of her and mimed spitting in it before stomping off to cuddle with Obstagoon in peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your lovely comments and feedback!! It really keeps me going! Also- question time? What do you think Piers’ music sounds like? In my head it’s like Don Broco - I’d be super interested to hear your headcanons! 👀👀👀


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *TRIGGER WARNING.*
> 
> Piers is pretty low in this chapter. There’s talk about suicide and mentions of past self-harm, and brief talk of alcohol and drug abuse. 
> 
> Please skip this chapter if you will find these themes upsetting and I’ll recap what happened next chapter. 
> 
> It didn’t feel right to edit out the scary themes because that doesn’t reflect on real life (or my life lel) But please stay safe and mind the warnings.
> 
> Okay! Now let’s get to that hurt/comfort!

Piers worried him. 

He always had- from the minute that Rose had signed the paperwork to create the Spikemuth gym, the skinny young man who became its leader worried him. How could he not- Piers looked like a wreck. Rose didn’t think he’d ever seen him without bags under his eyes, and he was so pale and thin as a rake- he looked ill. He’d pushed his feelings about it to the side, though- however fragile he may look, the man was a grown adult and he was able to make decisions for himself about what he was capable of. Rose had made sure that his employee was made aware of the full scope of employee assistance offered to him as a MC Champion’s league employee, and left it at that. He got used to Piers’ subdued presence at events, having to meet his haunted blue eyes when conversing, even having to visit Spikemuth every now and again for events. 

He didn’t seem unwell, at least- he had a dry sense of humour and always spoke his mind to the point of being rude, never hesitating to do or say what he thought was right. Maybe it was because he was practically a carer for his younger sister, but he seemed to have far more strength of character than one would assume for a young man his age. 

It wasn’t until he started this latest dalliance that he realised how dire the other man’s situation actually was- how could Galar’s third strongest trainer and a semi- successful singer be living like this- in a poky little two-up-two-down where the windows were held together with duct tape and a burnt-out car in the road out the front- a house which was more often than not freezing because he couldn’t afford to heat it, working himself into the ground for nothing and half-starving himself-

He’d surreptitiously examined the young man’s arms and thighs for track marks and thank Arceus he appeared to be clean, at least- although he could be taking drugs some other way. Hopefully the fact that he was trying to give up cigarettes meant that he was staying clear of that, but it would explain a lot... Rose shuddered.   
Arceus, please don’t let it be that. 

Thankfully, the only drugs he’d seen Piers taking were prescription antidepressants, and he’d already had to nag him to remember to take them- perhaps that was why he always looked so hopeless. Just garden-variety depression. 

At least when he was asleep, he looked peaceful. Young, too- he usually seemed much older than his 25 years, but he was small enough to lift easily, and times like this, when Rose was carrying him upstairs again with his head on his shoulder, all the defensive anger melted away and he looked almost childlike. 

His conscience made an unhappy noise as he thought about how he always used to carry Georgie up to bed like this, and Piers wasn’t even ten years his senior- but- he was still an adult, and Rose never claimed to be a good person. 

He kissed the top of his head and slid in next to him, the possessive part of himself loving how even in his sleep, Piers wrapped an arm around him and pressed in closer. 

He just wanted to whisk this man away into a nice warm penthouse and throw money at his problems until they all went away- but that would just cause a whole different set of problems- namely, why was he so charitable only to this one very attractive young man. At least this dalliance had made him seriously consider how dire things were in Spikemuth, and he was digging his heels in with his connections to get something done about it. Maybe that would help Piers. 

—-

It was coming up to the middle of a ten-day stint between days off at work, and Piers was really not enjoying life. 

He was ill, but not ill enough to take time off- his voice had never fully recovered from singing for two hours and then deep throating Rose, and he was feeling a bit coldy and gloomy and like life just wasn’t fair.

He opened the his front door, having to shove where the cold weather was making it stick, and almost fell into his house, to find that Marnie had been and gone, apparently, leaving only more laundry in the washing machine and some dirty pans in the sink. Which Nicky and Zag were eating out of.

“Oy- oy- Shoo!!” He clapped his hands and shooed the Pokémon out of the sink, leaving sticky pawprints on the floor in their wake, and ran some water into the crunchy bottom of the pan to soak it.

He looked around. Most everyone was out- he wasn’t on a main road and his battle team were tough, so he let them roam free, and the others were semi-wild anyway, but that did amount to having no one to cuddle with for now, and he could have really used Obstagoon’s calming presence or Skuntank’s lazy acceptance of his petting.

He sighed and wondered about dinner, catching sight of his meds on the side. He flicked the little pill organiser open, and dimly noticed that he’d missed a few days as he popped today’s dose into his mouth and gulped some water from the tap. Maybe that’s why he felt so crap.

He put down food and fresh water for the Pokémon, then retreated to the sofa and pulled his phone out, trying to find something to watch on mewtube but unable to focus.

He grabbed a blanket and tried to nap, but he didn’t feel like sleeping.

He should probably be working- maybe if he started in his art journal some ideas would come through and he could get some lyrics going- it shouldn’t be this hard to do something he loved, right? 

But he’d already worked for eight hours today, and songs were still work, so he couldn’t bring himself to get up off the sofa. 

He should eat- you weren’t supposed to have his meds on an empty stomach, and he could kind of feel it burning in the back of his throat. Probably psychosomatic, but he hauled himself upright anyway and grabbed one of the ready meals Rose had bought him and shoved it in the microwave, then had to pull it out again and look at the instructions. 

He shouldn’t be having these- all this single-use plastic- the film could be recycled if he took it to the bag recycling in town, but the black plastic tray couldn’t. He should make his own food like an adult. Healthier that way too. 

The microwave dinged and he began to eat, leaning against the counter. It was kind of cold still but he couldn’t be bothered to put it back. It tasted worse the more he ate- especially the meat. He should go vegan. 

He forced himself to finish it and then did the washing up, shuddering when he had to touch the soggy remains of Marnie’s burnt pasta lunch- which was stupid because it was just food, but it was still disgusting. 

He flopped back down and stared at the ceiling. Maybe now he’d eaten, he could sleep. Get ready for work tomorrow. Which was all he seemed to be doing at the moment- but he was so exhausted that doing much extra was just more chores to do, even fun things.

The bright, clear joy of the concert seemed like a dream, now. Maybe it was another Piers that had happened to- this one seemed to have been washed to grey. Like he couldn’t possibly have felt that much of anything. 

He wanted to feel that good again, needed to feel something at least- he palmed himself through his jeans and that was something- he wanted to be held, really, but he’d settle for fucking himself stupid. 

He stomped upstairs to run a bath and grabbed a waterproof vibrator and some lube because he was not in the mood for taking it slow enough for the water alone to ease his fingers in- and chucked some soothing white noise sleep music on from his phone because it was still too bloody quiet as he pulled his clothes off and slid in to the water.

It was so hot it stung, but he’d wanted a bit of an edge tonight and even though it made him wince as he fingered himself open and the scalding water rushed in, it was worth it for how shaky and overwhelmed he was feeling and he’d only just started. 

The vibes were good- he grunted as he slid the toy in to the hilt and it echoed around the tiny bathroom- he wanted stronger, really, but the strongest one he owned was fucking mains powered and there was no fucking way he was going to get that in the bath. He grabbed the bar of soap off the side and began to lather it across his body, humming as the way he was moving made the vibrator shift around inside him. He slid his hands across his chest, over his shoulders, down his legs- paying close attention to where he was most sensitive like the insides of his thighs and scraping his nails over the back of his neck, before sinking almost all the way under the water to rinse off, and sliding a still-slippery hand around his cock. 

That was good- he was getting there- it was a little hard to breathe between the hot water and the toy and how hard he was squeezing himself, and he found himself gasping for air in between wordless moans and mewls of pleasure as he pressed the toy even deeper with his free hand- the flared base wouldn’t let it go any further really, but he could feel every extra millimetre that sank into him and he wanted more already- next round he’d have to go for something bigger- yeah, that fucking mains powered vibrator was coming out tonight, he didn’t care how noisy it was, he wanted to shake himself apart on it over and over until he came dry- he squeezed even harder right under the head and he came rather quickly with a strangled gasp.

He sank back into the now filthy bathwater, panting and aching and feeling hollow despite the toy still buried in him. 

When he’d got his breath back, he pulled the toy out and reached over to drop it into the sink to clean, then pulled out the plug and let the bathwater drain. He laid there until the water had all gone, unwilling to get up. 

Somehow, he got showered, dried off, and scrubbed off the toy ready to put it away, chucking it back in its box and making no move to get out the big vibrator before collapsing onto his bed. 

He turned over and wrapped his arms around himself with a sigh. Doing his own aftercare sucked. 

Squeezing his eyes shut, he thought about things to look forward to- apart from Christmas, of course, which had started to seem like such a production lately he could hardly bring himself to look forward to it. There was an exhibition match on Sunday, which should be fun. He was up against Bea with her slightly weaker but type-advantaged Pokémon, and their matches were always interesting. She was the reason he’d put scrafty into his battle team, after all- the tough little guy often carried him through those matches after Bea’s bloody G-max machamp decimated the rest of his team. 

What else- the gym leaders were talking about meeting up to go ice skating sometime, too- except he couldn’t be bothered to nag and it seemed like he and Nessa were the only people who ever got things fucking organised- he was gonna get paid soon, that was good. Get him out of the Christmas overdraft. Maybe he could even get something nice for himself. ‘Something nice’ would probably be a new toy or something because he was dying of thirst out here- he really didn’t want to depend on Rose for being a regular fuckbuddy but somehow the sadder he got, the hornier he got, and when there was an abundant supply of great dick ready and waiting- how was he supposed to help himself?

He used to say he was a hedonist- there didn’t seem to be much of a purpose in this godforsaken existence, so you might as well just chase pleasure for the hell of it- but that wasn’t so true, these days. He’d lost too many friends to drugs to go down that route, he wasn’t going to become a shitty alcoholic like his stepdad, so that pretty much left sex- and he didn’t get nearly enough ass for it to be worth all this shit. He was only here for Marnie, really, and even now he could tell that that was a terrible way to live. He felt like screaming at Marnie to be more grateful to him for doing all this for her, when ‘this’ was just the bare fucking minimum of just existing.

He realised he was crying. Alone, in his house. Which was full of sharp things.

He squeezed his eyes shut and sobbed, shaking with the intensity of it. This is why he never let himself cry- once he started he couldn’t stop and it never helped- just made him feel worse- what was crying gonna do about it? 

He pulled out his phone again and texted Rose. 

Feel like shit. Want to see you. X 

Which was definitely self destructive to keep seeing him but better than some of the other things that were on his mind and he was going to stay clean, damnit- he didn’t wait for him to reply as he threw on some clothes and all but ran out of the house- worst came to worst he’d just go to the graveyard and cry like old times if he had to- but thank fuck, Rose was in Hammerlocke and offered to pay for the cab so Piers hammered the button on his phone until he got through to the cab company.

The cab pilot didn’t bat an eyelid over his red eyes and him scrubbing his face on his sleeve, just asked him his destination and nodded impassively at his barely- audible answer. 

He put his earbuds in and blasted music to try to drown out his thoughts- did playing music too loud knowing it’d damage your ears count as self-harm, he wondered, and then he paid and tumbled out of the cab into the reception of the budew drop inn, Hammerlocke, nodding at the girl on the desk who gave him a key, no doubt expecting him, and politely passed him a tissue as well, and then he was in and out of the lift and into Rose’s arms, nuzzling into his shoulder and making a soft noise from how good it felt to be held.

“Piers- are you alright?” Rose murmured against the top of his head, rubbing circles into his back. 

“Not really.” He admitted. “Please fuck me anyway.”

“How much was the cab, darling?” Piers felt his chest clench at the pet name which set him off sobbing again- Rose sat him down on the sofa and pulled him in against his side and sent the money over straight away - he knew Piers’ bank account was in a shitty state- and then put his phone aside and set back to dropping gentle kisses on his head. 

Piers mouthed at the other man’s neck and slid his hands under his jacket to squeeze him tight. The smooth silk was warm from his body heat and felt nice under his palms, and Rose’s scent was musky and familiar by now, mixed with a cooler note of his aftershave. He climbed onto his lap and pulled him even closer, their chests touching and his head still buried in the other man’s shoulder, as if Rose’s solid body could stop him from feeling like he was folding in on himself. 

Rose stroked his back through his threadbare hoodie as his breathing evened out, and he wiped his eyes on the other man’s shoulder without thinking. “Shit- sorry.” He sat back and scrubbed at his eyes. “I’m crying all over your jacket.”

“It’s alright, Piers.” Rose smiled at him sadly. “Anything you want to talk about?”

“Nah, just the usual.” His eyes slid off to the side and he scratched his head awkwardly. 

“The usual?” 

He shrugged. “I want to die.” He saw the hurt and worry in Rose’s eyes straight away- it hurt people when he told them that, he knew it did- especially since the only people who he had any excuse telling it to were the people who actually cared about him and would be hurt the most- but keeping it in when he wanted to scream and cry about how unfair it all was was so hard. And often, when he did get the courage up to open up, or just got worn down and joked about it, people would shut him down and tell him he didn’t mean it and that just pissed him off to no end. Like so many other times in his life, he didn’t feel heard, again. He could scream as loud as he wanted but no one was there to listen.

“‘M only here for Marnie.” He found himself continuing. “It’d hurt her too much if I killed myself. Or I’d be under a train years ago.” 

“Piers.” Rose’s hands found his and he squeezed them. “It makes me so sad to hear that you feel that way.”

Piers just shrugged and looked off to the side, unable to meet the other man’s eyes anymore. 

“I want to just wrap you in a blanket and keep you safe.”

Piers laughed. “That sounds nice.” 

They cuddled a little while more in silence. 

“When I’m feeling low, I need a distraction- something to take my mind off of things- would that work for you?”

Piers shrugged.

“There’s TV- or music? Or we could go out- see the Christmas lights, go get a hot chocolate at a cafe?”

“That does sound nice.” Piers smiled tiredly. He used to go every year with Sarah to see the Hammerlocke lights because it was basically free apart from the train there- they’d wander round the old town and through the romantic little side streets with their cozy orange gas lights- at Waverley station they always had mistletoe hung up and she’d always embarrass him by snogging him silly right there in public and they’d shove their hands in each other’s pockets to stay warm- his face fell when he remembered that he and Rose would have to stay a respectable distance apart. 

“I wanna stay in so we can cuddle.” He admitted. “But that hot chocolate sounds good.”

Rose kissed his forehead. “I’ll go make you one. Pick something out to watch.”

He was still flicking through the streaming catalogue when Rose came back. 

“Anything interesting?” Rose said, placing Piers’ mug in front of him and taking a sip from his own. 

Piers sighed. “The only thing I’ve been watching lately is kid cartoons.” 

“Piers, pick whatever will take your mind off things.” Rose pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and put it around their shoulders, pulling Piers back down to lean against him. 

He picked out Sailor Moon- he mumbled something about how Marnie used to watch it and the art direction is gorgeous, feeling a tad embarrassed to admit that he loved the show and tended to fall back on it whenever he was feeling low. Nothing too bad ever happened in Sailor Moon- even the end of the world wasn’t that bad- Queen Beryl could suck the energy from the whole of Japan and they’d all wake up just fine by the end of the day- and then Usagi and her friends would all run off home to copy each other’s homework and giggle about boys. 

He leaned into Rose as the nostalgic colours of 90s Tokyo   
glittered on the TV screen- the night sky glowing teal with pink and yellow lights cut through with the bright slash of red of the Tokyo tower. 

“I wanna go to Tokyo one day, but I’m gonna be disappointed it’s not as pretty as it is in Sailor Moon.” Piers murmured, only half wanting Rose to hear. 

“Nothing is ever as pretty in real life as it is in a painting.” Rose chuckled. “In Sakura season it can come quite close, I suppose.” 

Piers made a non-commital noise as Sailor Moon defeated Zoisite yet again and the ending theme played. 

“What a lovely song.” Said Rose. 

“Mm. It’s like- we’re together in our dreams, under the starry sky, or something.” Piers said, half-remembering from the subtitles and the translated version.

“How sweet.”

“Mmm.”

Rose gave his arm a squeeze. “Feeling a little better?”

“Yeah. Thanks. Sorry for ruining the mood with crying all over you.”

“You’re allowed to have feelings, Piers.” Rose said quietly. “But- you can get free counselling under our employee assistance -“

“I hate counselling.”

Rose sagged back a little. “Ah. Well, know it’s there. Dealing with suicidal thoughts is difficult, and we all want you to stay safe. I want you to stay safe.”

Piers looked up and met his eyes for a second before looking back at the tv. “Yeah. I will. For Marnie.” He shrugged. “I’ve stuck it out for 25 years, how much worse could it get?”

“Piers.” Rose pulled him in closer again. “Things can get better, too. You can go on adventures, and meet new friends- fall in love, make mysic you love, touch people’s hearts with it- you have so much more waiting for you.”

Piers just grunted and played the next episode.

—-

After a while, Piers was feeling sick of TV. He flicked it off and climbed into Rose’s lap again, this time grinding his hips down against the other and looping his arms around his neck as he stared at him with a half- smile.

Rose’s hands found his waist a tad uncertainly. “Piers, don’t feel you have to-“ Rose began, but he cut him off.

“I want to. I want it like all the time. So bad.”

The other man’s lips parted for him as his hand found its way into his hair- it was odd that he was starting to enjoy the bristly tickle of Rose’s moustache against his face, but he did nonetheless- and the gentle moans he was making as he sucked on his tongue were really starting to do things for him. 

He pushed Rose to lie back on the couch and leant on him, hiking a leg up to press their crotches together and breathing heavily through his nose as the other man grabbed his thigh and ran his nails up his back under his hoodie. 

He wanted more- he pushed himself up onto his elbows enough to pull Rose’s tie out of the fancy knot he wore it in, and started undoing the buttons of his waistcoat.

“You’re eager tonight.”

“Yeah. Not really in the mood for slow and sweet right now.”

Rose grunted in agreement and leant up to bite at the shell of his ear- he wriggled and hissed as he teased the sensitive skin with his teeth and pulled his hips down against him before grabbing his arse. Piers couldn’t understand why- his butt was flat as a board, always had been, no fun there- but at least Rose was nice enough to pretend, he supposed. 

He’d gotten down to bare skin now- palming and mouthing at the other man’s chest, thumbing over his nipples- and Rose sighed and arched into it as he tried to pull his shirtsleeves off his arms without getting up.

Piers’ hoodie was unceremoniously unzipped and dumped on the floor with the band tee under it, and then they both wordlessly made the decision that the bedroom would be a good idea, now, and they made their way there, Piers tripping on his jeans as he pulled them off on the way.

He looked up to see Rose leaning on the doorframe as he pulled off his socks, sizing him up appreciatively. “Piers, you look so good tonight.” 

He scoffed. “Come off it. I look like a dead rat and we both know it. Get over here.”

Rose looked like he wanted to say more but he shut him up with a kiss, grabbing the other man’s hand and hooking it into the back of his boxers before he undid the other’s belt.

He obliged, pulling them down and palming at his arse again, before pushing Piers back onto the bed and climbing over him. 

“You gonna make me feel good?” He said with half-lidded eyes, his hand going to his dick without him thinking about it- he was already hard and they hadn’t even done anything, he was just that desperate. 

The other man brushed his hand away gently but sternly. “Is that what you need?”

“God yes. I need it. Please make me feel good.” He arched back into the pillows, trying to look enticing and probably just making his dick bob about in the air.

“I think I need to put a ring on this, at least.” Gareth muttered, almost to himself- Piers palmed himself again with a moan and this time Gareth slapped his hand away. 

“On second thoughts-“ he rummaged around in his box of toys and reappeared with - was that- 

“Kinky.” He said, grabbing his cock for one more stroke before Gareth put the little cage on- he shuddered at the weight of it and the knowledge of what was going to happen. 

“It’s not coming off until you’ve come at least twice.” Gareth murmured in his ear, then pulled his chin up to kiss him, hard. “I think tying you down might be too much though.” 

“Yeah, maybe. Not tonight. Please be nice to me tonight.” He admitted against the other man’s lips. 

He shifted about, full of restless energy, stroking over Gareth’s body and going for the fly of his trousers but again, the other man brushed his hands aside. 

“Oh no, we’ve got to make a head start on you if we’re going to get all this done tonight. I’ve got quite the to-do list this evening.

“As long as that list is just Piers, Piers, Piers I’m not complaining.” He tried to joke, but the need was definitely showing through in his voice and eyes, and Gareth winked at him before going for another toy, showing him a thin, white vibrator wand with a smirk.

“Now, I’m not sure if I can trust you to get cleaned up for this without trying to get yourself off.”

Piers groaned and his balls ached. “I don’t need to clean up- I was having a fuckin’ wank party before I came here.” 

Gareth snorted and then thrust his fingers into his arse, finding it loose and slick with a little bit of leftover lube. “How many times?”

“Just once- I needed you.”

He scissored his fingers and Piers let out a low moan. “We’re going to have three more out of you by the end of this.”

He moaned again in anticipation, spreading his legs and Gareth stroked his skinny thigh, clicking the vibrator on and circling it around his arsehole far too lightly.

“Hm- actually-“ he clicked it off and patted Piers’ side. “Roll over- I’d like you on your hands and knees, Piers.” 

He did so without complaint and was rewarded by Gareth immediately pressing the wand’s rounded end up against his balls and clicking it on again, tracing along his taint and dipping it in to him, before pushing it in.

“That’s it.” He said, rubbing Piers’ back as he hissed at the toy sliding in and the vibrations getting deeper, not quite getting to where he wanted it yet.

He arched up and moaned anyway, pressing back against the wand and Gareth’s other hand as he held him in place, twisting the wand about inside him, seeming to deliberately avoid his prostate to draw it out. He dropped to his elbows with a contented sigh as pleasure washed through him.

“You’re holding up well.”

“Mm- I was using a vibrator earlier.” He admitted, feeling a bit dizzy and pleasantly out of it, and like it’d be really easy to come if Gareth would just angle that wand up a little more- 

He whined when Gareth instead clicked the wand off and tossed it aside. “I suppose you’re a little desensitised, then. No matter.” He sat back and patted his leg. “Come and lie over my lap for a minute.”

Piers gulped but complied. “You gonna smack my bottom like a naughty child?”

Gareth smirked down at him. “Not if you behave.” He teased, but he reached for some lube and Piers relaxed as he just slicked up his fingers and pressed two of them in easily.

He sighed as Gareth wriggled his fingers to make him open up a bit, the sticky, slippery press against his sensitive insides making his cock ache to be touched too, and he was sure it was leaving spots of pre on Gareth’s dove grey trousers. Oh, well. He didn’t seem to care so Piers didn’t bring it up, aching for the other man to get to his good spot.

He delivered, pressing down hard when he found it, and Piers shuddered, then mewled as he started rubbing tight little circles around the sensitive gland. 

“Oh- oh that’s good- Gareth-“ That was it- he could feel his body burning up with need and pleasure surged through him as he buried his face in the duvet to stop himself yelling as he spilled over the edge- and Gareth didn’t stop, keeping up the maddening pressure until Piers gasped at him to ease up and he pulled out, flexing his hand and wiping off the lube on the sheet. 

Piers panted and shook and moaned as Gareth stroked his sweaty back, waiting for him to calm down.

“Good?” He asked, eventually. 

“Yeah.” Piers replied, his voice hoarse. 

“Would you like some more?” Gareth nudged his face towards where his cock was plainly straining against the fly of his trousers. 

“God yes.” 

—-

They ended up stopping after two- it was good, so so good, but it was too much and Piers had to safeword him when Gareth tried to fuck him through to his own climax- Gareth held him close as he stroked himself off again- finishing with a grunt, then cuddled with him and helped him off with the cage. 

He didn’t say anything when he cried again, just got him a glass of water and set him down in the other bedroom whilst some poor cleaner changed their dirty sheets. 

“What’s your schedule tomorrow? Can you take a day off?” He said, handing Piers a tissue box. 

He shook his head. “Gotta be out by Eight at the latest, got work at Nine.” 

“I’ll set an alarm for then. Sleep here with me tonight.”

It wasn’t an order but a request- Gareth was still worried for him, he could see it in his eyes. He tried to smile to reassure him, but he didn’t quite manage it. 

It was nice, staying round his. He felt numb and cried out and tired, the beginnings of a headache starting up already. He fell asleep as soon as he’d brushed his teeth and collapsed into the clean warm bed, with Rose’s solid presence next to him, his scent all around him... he didn’t even dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so don’t @ me but I don’t think celadon city or anywhere else in the Kanto region is really meant to be Tokyo so I just... kept it as Tokyo in Sailor Moon. There’s no celadon tower? What was I supposed to do? Usually my go-to with Pokégeography is if it’s clearly meant to be somewhere, it’s there, but otherwise I’ll just jam the real one in if I need it. Like, there’s Wyndon instead of London, but if I ever need to write about like Cornwall it’s just going in there. Don’t @ me.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary of last chap: Piers is feeling really low, and goes to see Rose looking to take his mind off things. He ends up crying on Rose and talking about how low he is, and Rose cuddles him through it and they bang later.
> 
> Now, let’s get some more comfort in this hurt/comfort with everyone’s fave uncle Kabu.

The reason for Piers’ monster work week was that he’d had to schedule his day off so he could go up to Wyndon for an exhibition match at the Rose Arena- it was a regular thing, having a friendly tournament at Christmas, getting to play around with their type specialities and pit the gym leaders against each other with nothing much at stake, and it was usually a lot of fun. He’d been kind of looking forward to it, even though he’d much rather be off his aching feet. Maybe he could sit down in his battle and play it off as a joke. 

It was nice to see everyone too- he was apparently the last to arrive, everyone else in the men’s locker room was halfway ready already. He waved at the others, shrugged off his jacket and pulled his T-shirt over his head, flinching when a few of the guys exclaimed at him and Gordie gave an audible yelp.

“Been busy, Piers?” Raihan laughed and pointed. He looked down- ah, he’d kind of forgotten about the bites. There were a few new ones from last night, but really, he was covered in them in various stages of bruising all over his chest and upper arms. 

“Piers! You look like you’ve been mauled by a bear!” Gordie all but squeaked, his face going red as he stared at him. 

He couldn’t resist teasing him- he put a hand on his hip and smirked at him. “Oh, honey, I was~”

A few of the others cackled and he had to wait as Gordie put two and two together - and then he spluttered and turned back around to fuss with his hair in the mirror, bright red all over now.

Raihan gave another whoop and called out “Yaaas- get it Piers!” As Kabu shook his head and Piers pulled on a long sleeve gym shirt and started putting concealer on his neck. 

—-

Kabu re-cornered him after the match, which was fair, he supposed. He’d been off his game, it was plain to see- Bea stramrollered him, which you would expect from the type matchup, but it want usually this one-sided and he was kicking himself over a couple of bad calls he’d made early on that’d left scrafty and malamar fainted too soon. 

The shorter man put a firm hand on his shoulder once they were changed and all but pushed him out of the stadium. ”Piers and I have some chatting to catch up on.” Was all the explanation Kabu gave, and the others waved them off without too much fuss. 

Kabu took him to a table at the back of a run-down pub in a back street, and thumped a beer down on the table in front of him with far more force than was necessary. “Piers, you look awful. Talk about your feelings.” 

“It’s not-“

“I’m not talking about the bites.” Kabu narrowed his eyes at him. “You look like you haven’t slept in a month, and I don’t know how you’ve managed it, but you’ve lost even more weight.”

“You think so? I haven’t been really keeping track.” Piers lifted up an arm to look at it absently, not noticing any difference on his bony wrist.

“You need to look after your body, Piers. You only get the one. Now. What’s been keeping you awake?” Kabu pointed at the shadows under his eyes. 

“Oh, just work. It’s been so fucking busy at the shop, and the guys keep nagging me about working on the album together- but I’m too bloody tired and I don’t want them to do all that work and then have to scrap it when I get there.” He snorted. “I’m in the middle of fucking ten days in a row, I can’t handle this shit.”

Kabu grunted and took a sip of his beer. 

Piers fiddled with his glass, watching some foam dribble down the side and puddle on the sticky table. 

“Marnie’s been really pissing me off lately too. Keeps coming to my house and eating all my food like I’m made of money and I know uni is stressful and all but I’m fucking fed up of it.” He admitted, still staring into his glass. 

“That sounds tough.” 

He sighed. “And I’m still not talking to Team Yell and now I’m avoiding them because I’m scared of talking to them.”

Kabu waited impassively. 

Piers took a sip of his drink and then rolled the half-empty glass around on its base. 

“Why does Rose have to be fucking everything I’m looking for in a partner?” He said finally, refusing to meet Kabu’s eyes and barely talking loud enough for him to hear. “Like- he’s considerate, affectionate, he actually fucking listens to me?”

Kabu rolled his eyes. “Apart from the one glaring problem that he’s incapable of monogamy.”

“Yeah. Apart from that. That’s what makes it so hard. To end it.” He felt sick. 

“At least you know you need to end it.” Kabu put a hand back on his shoulder and squeezed. “You’re in too deep with him and he’s never going to give you what you want. You deserve more than this, Piers.” 

Piers snorted. “Kabu- Are you flirting with me?”

“No, Piers, I’m worried about you. Come on.”

Piers laughed and batted his eyelashes at him. 

Kabu just shook his head, squeezing harder at Piers’ shoulder to get him to look back at him, eyes full of sympathy and sadness. “Piers, I’ve been there, believe me. It’s lonely as hell, being a young gay man in an unsupportive world. You sleep around, trying to find a connection- but it’s not working, is it?”

“‘M not gay. That’s bi erasure.”

“Stop changing the subject.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s lonely being l,g,b,t,q,i or a - anything other than standard edition normal in this world. But you have more to offer than this, Piers.”

“I don’t though, that’s the thing.” He put his head in his hands, his eyes stinging and chest hurting. “I’m just a warm willing body and I can suck dick pretty good. That’s about all I bring to the table.”

“Don’t talk that way about yourself. You’re a talented, passionate, caring young man and you’re so strong, doing all this on your own. With Marnie and Spikemuth and the league. But you can’t try to make yourself smaller and need less than you need. You deserve more than that.”

Piers choked and Kabu brought him into a sideways hug. 

He was crying for real now, shaking and hiccuping and couldn’t stop. “I never had a dad.” He felt stupid talking about it, but at the same time, he couldn’t stop- tripping over his words as he continued. “Is this what it’s like? Some old guy who actually fucking cares if I live or die not just because he wants to shag?” 

Kabu didn’t answer, just rubbed his shoulder and let him cry on him.

It took a couple of minutes for Piers to pull himself together, even though they were in a public place and he was causing a scene. He just couldn’t control it- even when he finally got it together again, he was shaking and his throat kept closing up and he felt like he could go off at any moment even as he carefully breathed deeply and shut down the emotions as best he could. 

“Are you going to be okay?”

He gave Kabu a watery smile. “Yeah.” He scrubbed at his eyes and nose with his sleeve. “Thanks. You know. For caring and shit.”

“Any time.” 

——  
The new PC sat in a box on his desk. Rose asked why he hadn’t opened it, the next time he came around- he just flapped his hand and said it’d take a while to set up hasn’t had the time, not wanting to admit that he still felt awkward accepting it. 

He’d sheepishly asked for a PC in the end - easier to fix, and cheaper, too, for the spec he wanted- and Rose had delivered, not batting an eyelid at the one and a half grand it took to build a machine that could actually handle editing video. His old pc was practically in bits on the desk next to it- but he could salvage some of it, one of the guys in the band was saying he needed a new monitor and some extra ram so maybe he could sell it to him. 

The new sound gear had made some waves too- he’d been evasive when asked where the money had come from, and in the end he’d settled for saying that he’d asked Rose to advance some of the gyms budget because the old subwoofers kept fusing, and people seemed to buy that. 

—-

Apart from that first time, they hadn’t made any mention of money, but it seemed that Rose was intent on spoiling the hell out of him, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. 

He knew how he ought to feel- he was trying to scrape together the willpower to break it off with Rose before this whole thing got even more out of control, but he could never bring himself to. Which was stupid- he couldn’t imagine Rose leaving his wife for him, or if he did- he screwed up his nose at the thought of their relationship being made public. Rose would not want him standing next to him at fancy galas, not even if he cut his hair off, washed up and put on the most expensive suit in the world. He just... wouldn’t. Piers was a bit of fun. A side piece. 

He tried to press down the voice inside him crying out that being a side hoe was better than not being wanted at all- he couldn’t be with someone who was ashamed of him like that. They were from two different worlds. Not to mention decades. 

He tried to be strong. He’d nearly quit smoking- he could quit this, right? Just because Rose could make him feel better than anything else in his shitty life. He was stronger than this. 

—-

A few days passed before Rose showed up at his house one evening with Indian takeaway and some wine. He laughed good-naturedly when Piers only had the one wine glass left intact from the set he’d bought a while ago and had his own in a mug, settling in to lounge on the sofa, even going so far as to kick his shoes off this time. 

Piers sighed and turned the stove down. “If I’d’ve known you were coming I wouldn’t’ve started cooking.”

“It smells lovely- what is it?” 

“Just lentil dhal.” He shrugged. “It’s cheap.”

“The curry I brought will freeze- I’d rather have your home cooking tonight. Is there anything I can do to help?“

“Nah, it’s pretty much done.” Piers put the lid half across the saucepan and retreated back to the sofa to cuddle with Gareth. 

—-

Rose seemed so at ease in his house already. He laughed as a linoone oozed into his lap and he pet it, moving his dinner out of the way of its snuffling nose- even Obstagoon had accepted him now and she was a grumpy old girl who was quick to mistrust people, especially Piers’ romantic partners. 

It was gentle and companionable, Rose even helped with the washing up and then they retreated upstairs for some lazy, unhurried sex- Rose seemed intent on treating him tonight- he kissed over every inch of skin as he pulled Piers’ clothes off, then pushed him down to the bed, toying with him some more and lapping up every bitten-off moan and shaky gasp from Piers as he flicked his nipples and bit at the inside of his thighs, every once in a while mouthing at him and then pulling away as soon as Piers arched up into it to ask for more. 

It was nice- not as overwhelming as usual, he felt grounded and in control as he threaded his fingers through Gareth’s silky hair and sighed as he sucked on his bollocks. 

He cracked an eye back open as Gareth pulled off and leant up on his elbows, and then nonchalantly, as if it was nothing, said “Would you mind terribly getting these waxed for me?” He threaded his fingers in Piers’ pubic hair at the base of his dick and tugged gently. 

“Wha?” He screwed up his face, annoyed at the interruption. “Uh- kinda? A neatly trimmed bush isn’t very rock and roll.”

“How about it all gone?” 

Piers crinkled his nose some more. “Uh, are you gonna do yours then?”

“Well...” Gareth looked a bit dubious. 

“Then you’re just gonna have to deal with it.” Piers said and pushed his head back down. “You don’t own me.” He said quietly, more to himself than Rose. 

The man himself just grunted in agreement and got back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyy I can’t believe it’s been 4 months since I updated this 🙃 time has been weird lately and I hope y’all are doing okay in this weird quarantine hellscape! Stay safe everyone!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which ziggies are bathed, cookies are baked, and Leon and Raihan make another appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyy it’s been a hot minute- I was so Christmassed out and then quarantine got me fucked right up >< hope everyone’s doing okay and hopefully the next four months will be better for everyone! <3

The next day, he woke up to Gareth using his chest as a very bony pillow, his hair messed out of its carefully gelled back style slightly crunchy with product as he ran his fingers through it absently. Funny what you don’t notice in the heat of things. 

He combed the dried gel out with his fingers, and Gareth pulled away a little from his hand in his sleep, then settled back down when he stopped tugging his hair. He shut his eyes, wondering if he could get a little more sleep before his alarm went off at ten.

No such luck. About a quarter of an hour later of trying to keep still while his mind jumped ahead to wondering about the mornings delivery at the shop, he sighed and eased himself out from underneath the other man, and padded off to get some breakfast. 

On his way, he looked again at the computer on his desk. The custom tower came without any packaging when the guy delivered it, but the monitor was still in its box from the manufacturers.

He slid his thumb under the tab at the top and opened the top flap of the box.

——

Gareth surfaced a little while later, after he’d fixed his Pokémon some breakfast and was starting on some scrambled eggs for the humans. Dressed only in Piers’ dressing gown and looking very cute and sleepy, he slouched over and wrapped his arms around Piers from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder with a grunt.

“Mornin’ Gaz.”

He made an unhappy noise at the nickname. “Morning. I slept terribly last night.” 

“Really? You seemed pretty much out to me.”

“In between the lumpy springs and the squeaking every time you rolled over.” 

“It’s not that bad- you get used to it.” 

“Well, I’m not getting used to it. I’m buying you a new one or I’m never sleeping here again.” He disengaged, pulling out his phone and rubbing the back of his neck. 

Piers winced, wanting to tell him not to, but at the same time... “It’s your money, I guess.” He said, pulling the toast out of the toaster and slathering it with butter and the eggs. 

He stepped over Mick and Kieth, and the two zigzagoon followed him to the sofa, oozing into his lap and trying to eat off the plates. “Off- off! You little rats- out of my food! You’ve had yours!” Gareth took his plate and settled in next to him, and the two little Pokémon wormed their way onto his lap instead, squeaking in delight when he caved and fed them a scrap of toast each.

“Don’t feed them people food! It’s bad for them!” 

“Don’t they spend most of their time eating out of bins anyway?” Gareth had the decency to look a little sheepish, but he didn’t stop letting the zigzagoon lick his greasy fingers clean. 

“Yes, but I try not to make it easy for them.” He shovelled the rest of his toast into his mouth and put his plate aside, grabbing Kieth before he could eat the crumbs and settling him back onto his lap for some tummy rubs. “You’re a naughty little boy is what you are, Kieth.”

“And a manky little boy, too.” He added, wrinkling his nose as his fingers snagged on a clump of fur, which felt kind of... sticky. “Do I need to have a mass Ziggy bathing party tonight or what?” He sniffed the top of his head and grimaced, the smelly Pokémon cheerfully wriggling around to lick his face for his trouble. “Apparently I do.” He looked over at the clock and sighed. “Although, maybe a mass bath is a tomorrow problem. I might just do Kieth. Wanna give me a hand, Gaz?” 

Gareth just laughed, still scrolling on his phone. “I think I’ll just watch. The bed won’t be here until after Christmas at the earliest- do you mind if I get a firmer mattress?”

“I never had a new mattress before so knock yourself out.” 

“It’s better for my back.” Gareth tapped away at his phone. “And probably yours too, with that posture.” His free hand slid up Piers’ back to the base of his neck and massaged gently. “Hm- how does the twenty eighth sound to you?” 

“Nah, I got a shift. I think the next day I’m free apart from Christmas is like the fourth.” 

Gareth hummed, and paused as he was about to touch his thumb to confirm the payment. “I suppose I could always go and have a look at the furniture section at Sparks...” he said with a devilish grin.

“You wouldn’t fucking dare.” 

He laughed. “Don’t get so worked up, Piers.” He took his and Piers’ dishes to the sink, and dumped them in without making any pretence about washing them. “As much as I’d love to stay and watch you attempt to bathe that little monster, I rather have to get going. May I pop in the shower before you two?”

“Sure. Feel free to use my shower gel and stuff. Got some hair gel too somewhere if you want.” 

“Thank you.” 

—-

It was surprisingly... not sexy, watching Gareth in the shower, as he lathered up an unwilling zigzagoon in the sink. Not that he wasn’t still attractive- it just wasn’t the mood for it, right now. Instead, it felt unsettlingly domestic, as Rose unashamedly borrowed all of his things and managed to end up relatively well put-together despite wearing yesterday’s clothes still, and Piers ended up soaking wet, covered in bubbles, trying to towel off his Pokémon as he squeaked and wriggled and tried his best not to be dried. 

“I’m off, then.” Gareth said, looking fondly down at the pair of them on the floor. “Hope work goes well today.”

“Thanks, you too. Take care.” He leaned up to peck Gareth on the lips, and then he was gone. 

He sighed and loosened his grip on Kieth, now there were no longer any dry- clean only suits in the house to ruin, and the little zigzagoon shot out of his arms and out of the room, presumably to find his mother and have her groom him properly. 

His good mood evaporated as he stood up and got ready to face work and reality again. 

—-  
Technically, it’d been a good day. Work had been manic, as expected, but it had only been a six hour shift, and he’d turned his phone back on to an excited text from the admin at the shelter telling him that they’d just finalised the booking of two weekly afternoons with a counsellor to provide free sessions thanks to Rose’s donation- and that he’d agreed to continue to fund the counselling for the foreseeable future. 

Which was wonderful news- it just put a sour taste in his mouth at how easily Rose had managed to swoop in and pay for it, when he’d been kicking and screaming to get more funding for the shelter for years to deafening silence from Macro Cosmos and the League both. 

Since he actually had an evening for once, but no more resolve for any more bathing today, he decided to do something else productive and make some cookies to cheer everyone up at the shop tomorrow. They were Marnie’s favourite, too, if she happened by before they were all gone- crunchy biscuits with huge chocolate chips that were just squares of dairy milk plonked into the rest of the mixture, and best of all, they were hard to fuck up. 

He’d practically just taken them out of the oven when the doorbell rang and his phone buzzed at the same time. He opted for door, first- and opened it to Duraludon, smiling at him as best it could, and clomping from side to side in anticipation. Raihan popped out from behind to smile and wave as Piers leant in to the metal dragon to give it a hug and a chin rub. It rumbled with delight before it was shoved out of the way by Turtornator honking and snuffling for attention, before Raihan squeezed in between his rowdy Pokémon and scooped Piers into a hug, squeezing him tight and lifting him off the ground.

“Oof-Raihan- what you doin’ out here, mate?” 

“I was in the area, and I saw that pretty gloomy insta story you posted earlier, and I thought I’d drop round to cheer you up.”

He put him down and headed on in. “Hey- something smells amazing in here! Have you been baking?” 

He seemed to immediately lose track of that thought though, instantly burying himself in a pile of zigzagoon that came to greet him. “Oooh, how are my babies? How are my cute little babies?” 

Piers smiled and shook his head, waiting for the bigger Pokémon to shuffle inside before shutting the door and going to put the kettle on. 

“It’s cookies- you want some?” 

“When have I ever said no to cookies?” He said, standing up with three ziggies in his arms and carrying them over to look at the wire rackful of cooling biscuits. “Those look proper lush, Piers!”

“Thanks.” He took the teabags out, splashed in some milk, and retreated to the sofa, nudging Skuntank enough out of the way so he could perch on the edge of the cushion. 

“Can I have one now?”

“They’re still hot so they might be a little crumbly still.” Piers said, but not before Raihan had helped himself to one and it had disintegrated back out of his hand onto the rack. 

“Oops.” He said, completely undeterred, and grabbed a plate from the cupboard to scoop his handful of warm crumbs on to. “Tastes delicious though. You want one?”

“Why not.” He said, shutting his eyes and sipping his tea, then accepting his own crumbly plateful as Raihan came to sit next to him.

“Seriously though bro, are you doin alright? That post was pretty gloomy.” 

Piers frowned. He didn’t think it’d been that bad. “All my posts are pretty gloomy.”

“That’s kind of my point bro. It seems like you want someone to listen to you about it.” He said, in between mouthfuls of chocolate. “I mean, I get it if you don’t wanna talk about it, but like, I’m here if you need me, bro.” He patted his shoulder. “We all are. All of us gym gang. And Lee, too.”

“Thanks.” He said, looking down into the dregs of his tea. “I’ll think about it.”

—-

About half an hour later, the doorbell rang again, and this time, it was Leon and his Pokémon entourage that came bundling through the door. “Hey Piers-Raihan said that there was cookies!” Leon said, and when Raihan elbowed him, he added “Also that you seemed kind of down.” 

Piers’ smile faltered. He was sure that Raihan had meant well by inviting Leon too, but honestly? The two together were always a little much for him, since they were both so bouncy on their own, both of them together was overwhelming and he couldn’t keep up with their energy and constant in-jokes. 

He managed about ten minutes of their combined banter before he slunk off to use the loo and take a break for a minute. 

—-

Hey guys? I’m kind of peopled out for the day- not that I don’t appreciate you coming round, but if you don’t mind, do you think we could reschedule...?” He tailed off as he re-entered the room, and the two broke apart guiltily from where they’d been- cuddling? They were both touchy guys, but this seemed a bit extreme.

“Arceus, will you two just fuck already?” He rolled his eyes and collapsed into the armchair.

Raihan giggled nervously. “We did- “ Leon yelped and went bright red, and Raihan hastened to explain-“ I mean- we’re together, but, well, everyone will flip their shit if the other two top Galar trainers turn out to be gay. So, you know. Keeping it on the down low.” He rubbed the back of his head and looked over at Leon. “Sorry for not telling you till now.” 

“Oh, no.” All of his annoyance with them evaporated, and he knelt down on the sofa between them and pulled them into an awkward hug, one arm each and squeezed them. “I mean, I’m bi, you pieces of shit. But yeah. Being anything but straight in front of the Galar press is hell.”

Leon squeezed him back. “Piers...” 

Raihan seemed like he wanted to say more, but he cut him off. “My house is safe though, be as gay as you want.” 

“But- Kabu said- weren’t you feeling lonely-“ Leon said into his shoulder.

“I’d imagine you guys are too, not being out in public.” He said, choosing to ignore the fact that apparently Kabu was telling the others to babysit him now. 

“It is kind of lonely, yeah.” Raihan said.

“It’s weird acting one way in private, and then not the same in public.” Leon said, sneaking his arm around Raihan’s waist and into the pocket of his hoodie. “It’s my fault though, for being such a coward.” 

“Babes- don’t be like that. I told you- we’re coming out on your timeline, and only when you’re one hundred percent okay with it. Ain’t that right, Piers?” 

“Yeah, you don’t owe anyone a coming out apart from yourself.” He agreed.

“And Raihan.” Leon said, voice wavering and tears welling in his eyes. “And all the little gay kids who would be really happy if I was a role model for them, and all the adults too-“ 

“Lee, shut up. You know that’s a pile of shit.” Clearly they had had this discussion before, then. “I mean, yeah, you’d be an amazing role model, but that doesn’t mean you’re single handedly responsible for destigmatizing homosexuality in the whole region. No one could manage that all by themselves and no one could expect you to.”

“He’s fucking right, you know.” He went and retrieved Leon another cookie. “Whatever you decide to do, whenever or even if you decide to come out, that is up to you alone and that’s valid as fuck. Have another cookie.” 

“Thanks.” Leon said, scrubbing at his eyes. “And sorry. I came here to try to cheer you up and here I am spilling all my shit on you.”

“Nah, it’s okay.” He patted him on the head and retreated to his armchair, sitting sideways and stretching his legs out over the arm as he yawned. “You know what, though, if you guys are looking for a third, I’d so be down.” He said, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’ll keep it in mind.” Said Raihan with a wink as Leon spluttered and blushed. 

“Maybe not for a while though.” Piers admitted. “Gotta get my head back on straight and I think it’d be too much right now. But I am so down.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Gordie loving hours but then again when is it not tbh :p I got stuck and then ended up writing all this angsty backstory so hope u enjoy it lmfao

Piers was in a funny mood after Lee and Raihan’s visit, and plainly, people could tell at work. The younger colleagues especially, were avoiding him, and even as he tried to rein it in, he could feel himself struggling to stay calm, and the slightest little things kept setting him off, so much so that he took his break early and camped out in the cold outside with his mug of coffee, looking at the early evening stars and listening to the sounds of traffic and metal goods cages rattling. 

He hated secrets. He hated people making him keep secrets. So much shame and pressure- it made him feel like like he was a little kid again, wondering why other people’s parents didn’t seem quite the same as his but for some reason absolutely certain that he shouldn’t tell anyone about it, becoming complicit in another cover up just like sneaking into Marnie’s room to soothe her back to sleep while his parents screamed at each other downstairs for fear that they’d hear and come and scream at her too. 

Not that this was anything like that, really. He huffed out a sigh, blowing air through his lips and pretending that his breath steaming out was smoke. Leon and Raihan deserved to have their privacy, even if he couldn’t really relate to their particular struggle. He’d never really been ‘in’ the closet after all, his sexuality not conforming to his parents expectations had been just another way to rebel when he was a kid, and he’d never bothered hiding the fact that he was bi even as Spikemuth made it into the major leagues. 

He shut his eyes and took a few more deep breaths, imagining his lungs filling with soothing warm smoke. Shame he only did breathing exercises when he was thinking about smoking, but he was doing the best he could for now. 

He drained his coffee and unashamedly dumped his mug in the sink for someone else to clean before marching back onto the shop floor to face the customers.

—

Time seemed to stop mattering as he slipped into the work- he was good at this, faking politeness to customers, sorting out their problems, protecting the younger staff from the ruder people as the clock ticked away in the corner of his till screen, and he was feeling comfortably numb until Gordie plonked a basket of blue baubles up on the counter with a cheerful “Hello, Piers.” 

He blinked at the basket, then up at his friend, almost not recognising him out of a gym setting. “Gordie- what are you doing here?” As the leader of Circhester Gym, Gordie was loaded- there was no way he’d be shopping in the run-down out of town mall for no reason. He was dressed pretty casually too- partly why Piers didn’t recognise him and plainly most everyone else didn’t either- with his hair tied back and wearing a plain hoodie and jeans. 

Gordie’s smile faltered. “Mate-you were coming round Mum’s for dinner tonight, right? Did you forget?”

“That’s today?” Piers said, frowning at the date on the screen as he started to scan things through. Gods, was it the twenty second already?

“Yeah- I mean, if you’ve double booked it’s alright but- Mum was excited to see you.” He pulled a reusable bag out of his back pocket and Piers started to box his things up. 

“No, no, it’s alright. I’m glad to get to see everyone. My shifts til five though.” He jabbed at the screen as Gordie flicked through his cards. 

“That’s alright, I’ve got a ton of stuff I need to get.” He said, and gestured at the bag of decs. “Mum is convinced that she doesn’t have enough- as if she didn’t have enough decorations up already for the whole of galar.” He rolled his eyes. “She’s got a photographer coming to do a shoot tomorrow for country dwelling online and everything has to be perfect, and there’s a gap in the living room tree now after Dewey’s glaceon tried to climb it and broke half the stuff.”

“That does sound like Melony.” He said, shuddering at the thought. “I thought it wasn’t your colours.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of done with Christmas this year.”

“Saaaame.” Piers said, gesturing at the speakers. “If I hear Rudolph the red nose stantler one more time I think I’m gonna cry.”

Gordie grimaced. “I dunno how you manage, Piers. At least I can escape it- I just didn’t put the tree up round mine.” He shook his head. “It’s just fucking- not even about family anymore, isn’t it. It’s just splashing money about to make yourself feel better, and just- tree based flexing. Have you seen what Raihan’s done to Hammerlocke castle this year?” 

“I haven’t been on insta lately.” 

“Inflatable snoms. All over it. Lit up, and some of ‘em are playing music.”

“He didn’t!” Piers giggled at the thought, resolving to check it out the minute his shift ended. He needed a good laugh.

“Trust me, if the city doesn’t take his decorating privileges away for next year, I’m gonna go over and rip the decorations off with a bloody stone edge, it’s awful!”

“I dunno, if it makes people happy...” he said, grinning at Gordie’s expression. “Lemme- I can do you a discount on these.” He said, looking back at his till and wincing at the eighty pound bill for the decorations.

“Nah, it’s alright. I don’t wanna get you into trouble.” Gordie said, clearly not done moaning. “You would not believe how much she spends on Christmas shit every year. Acts like because she gives it to Queen Mother hospital up near Wyndon it makes it alright to buy new shit each time but it’s just - it’s a bit much even for me.” 

Piers raised his eyebrows. “This coming from a man with how many cars?”

“Only three! I sold one!” He said, and then laughed and shrugged, sticking his card into the machine. “Yeah, I’m a hypocrite I guess.” He shook his head. “Guess I’m just not feeling it.”

“Here’s your receipt for that.” Piers said, slipping it into the bag and pushing it across to Gordie, who reluctantly picked up on the signal to get going and shouldered the bag. 

“Thanks mate. See you at Five?”

“Sure. Now get away from my tills, you’re attracting a crowd.”

“Sure, sure.” He turned and winked at the group of people staring at him. “You heard him- let’s get out of the way.” He pulled a sharpie and some trainer cards out of his pocket and headed off.

Piers sighed.

—-

Some bloody idiot had mislabelled a dozen boxes in the stock room, and Piers had to spend a good hour trying to check as many other boxes as he could as well as track down the culprit in between arguing with customers about everything and rinsing out little Katie’s eye after she got glitter straight in it and came to him crying- so it was a shock when Shivam hollered up the stairs to him- “Piers! Gordie’s back- I’ve let him into the break room because he was making a scene but now he’s distracting everyone- can you come and deal with him?” 

“Ta!” He yelled back, shoved the box back onto the shelf and stood up, sighing. The storeroom disaster was someone else’s problem now. Or more likely his tomorrow, since no one else would do it before he was back. Ugh.

He trudged heavily down the stairs and clocked himself out before sinking gratefully into Gordie’s outstretched arms for a hug, not caring how it looked. The man gave a bloody good hug, alright- squeezing just tight enough and rubbing his back before letting him go. 

“Shift go alright?” 

He shrugged and made a face. “It went. You find everything you needed?” 

“Pretty much.” 

Piers ducked out to get his coat, and when he got back, Kirsty and Jade were shyly giggling as Gordie signed some stock label sheets for them. 

“Don’t encourage him, you two!” He sighed, and dragged the other man off towards the back door. “Come on, you sleazy git.” 

Gordie just laughed and blew a kiss to the girls as Piers shoved him out into the loading bay. “It’s just a bit of fun, Piers. You flirt all the time at your shows.”

“That’s different. They’re supposed to be working.”

“I was just brightening their day.” He nudged him, and then looked around at the loading bay. “Whoa, it’s always weird going like-backstage at the shops. It’s like it’s a whole secret world back here.” 

Piers rolled his eyes at the bins and cages and containers. “Where’re you parked? Or are you corvicab-ing?”

“I’m down the other side, I think- on the top of the multi-storey.” 

Piers grunted and turned around. “Let’s go back through the centre again then.” He beeped his keycard to a different door and headed off down the bare concrete corridor, lined with leaking pipes and bins, Gordie following him with a whistle, before they emerged out the other side into the white tiles and bright shopfronts of the public-facing area and cut through to Gordie’s car.

It was a miracle the bloody thing hadn’t been keyed really, bringing it out to Spikemuth- it was one of those cars that were so posh the doors opened upwards, all sleek and black and low to the ground. Gordie had to help him with closing the door after he all but fell in and got buckled up, sliding in after him and re-doing his hair where it was coming loose already before buckling in himself and getting comfy. 

“You wanna drop by yours first or go straight to Circh?” Gordie said, checking the mirror and flicking the engine on, Piers shuddering reflexively as the overpowered car rumbled to life around him. 

“I’m good to go straight- I’ll text Marnie to feed the ‘goons.” He said, pulling out his phone.

“No prob.”

Piers leaned on the window and looked out at the sky- pitch black already and the stars hidden by the bright yellow streetlights as Gordie pulled onto the A-road to Circhester. It felt so much later in the evening than it was, and he stifled a yawn as Gordie chattered about nothing for a while, then seemed to run out of conversation and kept his eyes on the road, and Piers let his own eyes drift closed for a while. 

He woke up as the car slowed and he was pulled forward by the inertia as Gordie drove up the slip road and round the roundabout, past some snow ploughs already parked in a lay-by for tonight’s weather, up towards the mountains. 

“Sleep well?”

“Mm. We nearly there?” 

“Yeah, ‘bout ten minutes.” He said, slowing right down on the mountain road- the sports car wasn’t really suited to the weather, but at least it wasn’t snowing yet, and the tinkling of grit salt flicking up against the underside of the car was reassuring. 

The roads got narrower and the houses bigger and further apart, and then they were turning into the driveway of Melony’s ridiculous home on the outskirts of Circhester- Gordie rolled down the window and leant out to touch his key fob to the reader. The blast of freezing air from outside had Piers starting upright in his seat as the gates creaked open, and he peered ahead at the massive building settled in the hills up ahead.

He hated coming here- not for the people, but for the sheer reminder of how stupidly wealthy they all were- he couldn’t imagine Gordie ever having grown up here, as they drove down the driveway between manicured firs and pines covered in snow. It must warp someone, living with such excess, he thought for the millionth time, sneaking a look over at a Gordie. From what he’d gathered, his childhood had involved a lot of boarding school and private coaching, and he wasn’t particularly envious of it. 

Although that hadn’t always been the case- they’d been in the same year for their Gym challenge, Piers being a few years late and Gordie early, and, well. He hadn’t bullied the chubby little posh kid, but he hadn’t... not bullied him, taking a spiteful pride in beating him every time they battled, even as his face turned red and blotchy and he fought back tears and commanded his ice- type team with a shaking voice- even as his victories rang hollow when Gordie ran crying back to his Mum and she looked across at him with pitying eyes as she comforted her son... not his proudest moments, to be sure, but he also couldn’t bring himself to regret it, since it was after one such battle that Melony had first sat him down and asked how he was doing, before politely telling him to be kinder to the other challengers and then steamrollering him in a battle. 

Gordie had found him crying in the locker room after that, and timidly patted his shoulder and said that he always felt bad losing too, before leaping back as Piers hit out at him, too slowly to actually get him but he didn’t need to know that.

He’d taken a shaky breath and said that ‘his mum said that you were going through some stuff so he understood.” And then lost his nerve and ran. 

They hadn’t spoken after that until Piers bumped into Melony in the waiting room before the semifinals, and she’d smiled kindly and asked where his parents were as if nothing was wrong even as Gordie carefully positioned her between them at all times and glared at him. 

He’d shrugged and said no one was here with him, and then found himself attached to the Ice leader for the day, as she produced two water bottles and bars of chocolate and boxes of sandwiches for the both of them as though nothing was wrong, (it was only later that he realised that she’d probably known he’d had no one before hand and this wasn’t some strange rich-people magic) and held his hand when the crowd outside got too loud, and patted his head and told him he did a fantastic job when he lost in the finals. 

She’d kept an eye on him since then- sending him a card and a book voucher on birthdays and Christmasses and inviting him round to train even when he’d fallen off the bandwagon with having to look after Marnie. By that time, he was barely hanging on at college and Gordie was racing on ahead of him towards a permanent place in the league or even being champion... it was Melony who’d encouraged him to fight for Spikemuth’s new gym after the shipyard closed and the steelworker’s union gym closed too, even as he’d once again started to beat her son every time they battled (maybe especially as he beat him- Melony was kind on the surface but there was no denying she pushed her children hard.)

And then when Gordie left she’d asked him to reach back out to him and make sure he was doing alright, and he’d reluctantly agreed, more out of obligation to Melony than for any real worry about his former training partner. 

Funnily enough, it was Gordie’s stint at the Rock gym in Wyndon that brought them closer together as proper friends- he’d been in a bad way, drinking too much and sleeping with a string of awful girlfriends and flat broke most of the time without any support system, and boy was that a situation Piers could relate to, as he sat around playing video games with him at 4am on a work night and they moaned to each other about the world and he gently nudged him in the direction of counselling and Gordie cooked him actual meals and bought him nicotine patches for every birthday and Christmas until he sucked it up and tried them out. 

—-

They pulled up out the front of the house- Gordie grabbed an absurd amount of bags from the back seat and Piers tried not to visibly seethe at the overconsumption of it all as they headed past the grand front entrance round to the side door that the family actually used. 

Melony all but burst out of the door to greet them- pulling Piers in to another tight hug before kissing him on the cheeks and towing him back into the warm- Gordie followed, plonking his bags down and sitting down to take off his shoes as his mother descended on him to fuss over him not wearing a coat out in the cold. He rolled his eyes but hugged her back.

“Piers, it’s so good to see you, darling, I’ve got tea all ready in the lounge- come on through and take the weight off your feet- Gordie, sweetie, bring those decorations and I’ll see what I can do with what you brought.” She said, sweeping out the door in a cloud of perfume and perfectly blow-dried hair.

Piers kicked off his battered work shoes and followed, out of the show kitchen with its granite countertops and underfloor heating, through the massive foyer with a tree that wouldn’t look out of place in Clefalgar square, into a sitting room that could have been cozy if it weren’t about the size of his entire house- the whole place was looking even more like an ice kingdom than usual, Melony’s tasteful, modern white on white interiors now dripping with blue and white decorations. 

Melony’s spoilt little vulpix looked up from its spot on the couch and mewed at them, before stretching and sauntering over for some attention, settling for Piers when it’s mama knelt straight down by the Christmas tree with the bag of decorations, opening boxes and holding up ornaments against the branches critically. 

Gordie sat down and started pouring the tea, and Piers joined him, scooping up an unwilling vulpix and carrying it with him, playing with its soft curled-up tails and fluffing its belly as it wriggled half-heartedly.

He let it escape when Gordie passed him a chocolate biscuit and a cup of tea, and it said something for how tired he was because he went in straight for the caffeine before he even thought about the snacks, draining it and passing it back for a refill before Vulpix had even made it back to Melony’s side. 

“Long day, huh.” Gordie laughed and refilled his cup before pouring another and taking it over to his Mum, putting it on the fireplace out of harm’s way. 

“Gordie, was this really the best you can do?” She said, turning to him and frowning at the bauble in her hand. “These don’t really match what I’ve got here, and some of these are p l a s t i c.” 

He rolled his eyes at Piers. “Mama, Christmas is in three days. Everything’s sold out- I did the best I could with your colour scheme. Plus- that one’s shaped like a little snom!” 

She tutted at him and went back to faffing around moving things around on the tree. “So Piers, how are things at the Gym?” She said, in a bright tone of voice that totally clashed with her expression.

“Uh, fine I s’pose. We generally don’t meet up much in the off-season- most everyone has a second job apart from Keeley, and that’s only because she’s on maternity at the moment.”

“You don’t meet up to train together?”

He shrugged, and started in on his cake. “We do a bit closer t’ season starting. I trust ‘em all to train without me breathin’ down their necks.”

She sighed. “Honestly Piers, you need to stand up for yourself more and not let Rose bully you over salary like he does. Then you’d have more time for training if you weren’t working all the hours in the day.” 

Now Piers was the one rolling his eyes. “And where would the money for that come from when nobody wants to buy broadcasting rights or ad spots or merch liscencing rights for the gym?” 

She huffed. “Rose makes plenty from the rest of his gyms- he could easily pay you a liveable wage.”

“My wages are liveable, I’m alive aren’t I? The band and Marnie both just kind of suck up all my money.” 

Thankfully, they were saved by the triplets bursting in, followed by their au pair, loudly proclaiming that they were promised cookies because there were guests, then shrieking in delight at seeing their older brother and promptly all trying to sit in his lap at once. 

“Hey, watch it, ankle-biters!” Gordie said, trying to keep his teacup facing upright, but once he’d got safely back on the side, happily joining in with the chaotic toddler hug pile, kissing their heads and ruffling their hair.

“Not on the sofa, you three.” Melony said, straightening up and brushing glitter off of her skirt. “You’ll get chocolate everywhere. You can go and have some in the kitchen and then come back.”

“Aww, but I wanna see Gordie.” One of them- Dylan? Ryan? He never could tell them apart- protested, burrowing under his brother’s hoodie and flopping around dramatically when the au pair picked him up and marched them out, along with the tray of cookies. Too bad- Piers had kind of wanted to snag another one, but it was kind of a welcome trade-off for not having to socialise with the brat trio for a little bit more. Which- wasn’t very nice of him to call them the brat trio, even just in his head, but the nickname had stuck, and even the nicest of three-year-olds was still kind of a brat in his opinion. 

He refilled his teacup and sank back into the comfy sofa, watching out the corner of his eye as Gordie pulled his hoodie off and he got a peek of pale skin and blonde happy trail before he pulled his t-shirt back down.

“I’m just going to go check on the dinner- and make sure they haven’t taken too many biscuits and made themselves sick.” Melony said, half under her breath as she hurried out the door. 

Gordie looked at Piers, then over at the tree. “I’m gonna add the plastic snoms and see if she notices ‘em before the photo shoot.” He said, cracking a grin and making a dash for the pile of subpar decs that Melony had abandoned by the tree. 

“Sounds like a plan.” He said, stretching and cracking his joints before sauntering over to semi-hide the other three snoms. “Where did you get these, anyway?” 

“Uh, I think they were from Primarimark, actually.” 

“I might have to swing by and grab one of these for Marnie tomorrow.”

“What are you boys doing?” Melony said, appearing back by the door in a pristine white apron. 

“I was just trying to foist this off on Piers for his ugly tree.” Gordie said, cool as a cucumber, holding out the decoration he was holding at Melony. “Are you sure you don’t want it?” 

“Oh, it’s fine, Piers, be my guest if you want it.”

“And speaking of- dinner’s ready.” 

“Speaking of what?”

“You know.” She smiled and tugged the bottom of her apron out like a ball gown and doing a little dance. “Be our guest, be our guest- it’s dinner time.” 

Piers couldn’t stop the little “aww” noise that escaped him, and even Gordie cracked a smile as she shepherded them back through into the kitchen where the triplets and au pair were already sat around the big, antique-looking table. 

Piers nodded across at the au pair- a new one again, and he wondered what had happened to the last boy- “I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Piers.” 

“I know.” She said, seeming starstruck despite who she was working for. “Uh- I’m Marcia.” 

“Good to meet you.”

“You too.” 

“Gord- would you text your sister and get her to come down?” Melony called over her shoulder, opening the oven and pulling out what looked like a shepherd’s pie. 

“You have a phone too, Mama.” He muttered, but did as he was asked- and Piers internally rolled his eyes at the thought of having a house so big you had to text your family instead of hollering at them up the stairs like his always did.

Melony put the dish on a heat mat carefully away from the triplets end of the table, and beamed at them. “Now, I haven’t tried this recipe before- but it was on my favourite food blog so I wanted to give it a go and you all have to let me know what you think of it!” 

“You made it yourself?” Piers said, cautiously optimistic as she began to serve it out.”

“Of course! I love to cook- and I have more time to now my son stole my job.” She pinched Gordie’s cheek with an oven- gloved hand, which he smacked at half- heartedly.

“Glad you two finally learned how to get on.” Piers remarked, looking between the two. 

“Most of the time. But me too.” Gordie said with a smile.

Melony just took her oven gloves off, then ruffled his hair and sat down. “Let’s not wait for Honey, she knew what time she was supposed to be down for dinner and I’d hate for this to get cold.” 

“Thanks so much for having me over, it smells amazing.” Piers said, not waiting to dig in. It was pretty good- not actually shepherds pie but some sort of veggie alternative and maybe could have done with a little more seasoning- but getting to join in with the McKinley family dinners every now and then was a proper treat in itself. Speaking of family- Piers swallowed his mouthful and raised his head from his food. “Isn’t Eric coming today?” 

A shadow crossed Melony’s face. “No. He’s back late today- trying to get everything done before his time off.”

“Oh, that’s a shame.”

“I suppose that’s just how things are, though.” She said, a tad too brightly. “The market never sleeps, does it?” 

Gordie laughed. “He’s just scared now he has to earn his own money now you cant keep him as a trophy husband any more.” 

“Gordie! That’s not a kind thing to say!” Melony scolded.

Piers grimaced, and turned to the kids to try to get the conversation going again. “So, what have you three been up to today?”

“Swimming!” Piped up the one furthest from Marcia, who was building his pie into a tower with a look of great concentration on his face. 

“Bouncing on the trampoline!” The middle kid said, at the same time but louder. 

“FALL-INKS GUYS!” Bellowed the remaining toddler, leaning up and bouncing on his chair. “I want to play it so much!”

“They’ve started on let’s play videos.” Marcia said, expertly feeding end toddler a scoop of pie and putting the spoon back in his protesting fist. “Don’t ask me why, I don’t think they’ve ever played it.” 

“Gordie played it! He’s going to play it with me tomorrow!” 

“If I can get it to run on my laptop.” Gordie said. “If not then we’ll just have to play hide and seek again.” 

“No! Hide and seek is so boring- we have to play falinkses!”

Melony shot her son a What have you done look, and he shot her an I didn’t know it would be such an ordeal when I promised look back, just as Honey sauntered in and plopped down in the chair next to her mother. “Hello, Piers.” She said, gloomily pulling her phone out and scrolling, shoving food in her mouth absentmindedly.

“No phone, please, Honey.” Melony said, just as Piers gave the kid a weak smile and a “Hey, kid.” 

“How are you, Piers?” She said politely. 

“Fine, thanks. Busy. How are you?”

“Awful. Mum’s been making me do homework all day.” 

“It’s better to get it done and then relax, darling.” Melony said, ignoring her daughter’s glare. “You can always ask Gordie for help.”

“No thanks. He stinks at history.” 

Gordie shrugged. “It’s true, but I’ll still do my best to help while I’m here if you need it.”

“I appreciate the thought.” She said flatly. 

Piers scraped up the last of the pie off his plate and sighed. 

“I’m afraid there isn’t any more left seconds.” Melony said, catching sight of him finishing. “But I can get you some dessert in a minute.” 

“That sounds lovely.” 

After the triplets had consumed an acceptable amount of food, Gordie took the plates and Melony bustled off to get some tiny cheesecakes from the fridge- each in a dinky little glass topped with a dollop of jam and a single leaf in a way that was very aesthetically pleasing but at the same time, he felt absolutely cheated of dessert when the whole thing was gone in two bites. 

“That was amazing, Melony, thank you for going to so much trouble.” 

“It’s no trouble, darling, you’re family to us, I’ve told you.”

“Still...” he protested, as he was led back through into the sitting room, almost tripping over shuckle as he slowly pottered around the house. 

“Sorry Mum.” Gordie said, scooping up the offending Pokémon and sitting down with it for a cuddle as it made a low clicking purring noise. “Maybe we should tie a balloon to you, little guy.”

“It’s alright- I’m just not used to him is all. Vulpix is only a little bigger- but she always makes so much noise.” 

“And you’re not even gonna evolve into something harder to trip over.” Gordie remarked to his Pokémon, scratching under its chin and letting it lick his fingers. 

Melony patted her knee and Vulpix lept up, and Piers was left wishing he’d brought one of his team along, just for cuddling. 

“How’s Marnie doing, Piers? You haven’t said much about her.” Melony said, smoothing the curls on her Pokemon’s head down into a neater style. 

“Oh, she’s fine. Got back from uni, not really seen much of her...”

They talked for a while, curled up in their respective cozy chairs, until Piers excused himself to go to the bathroom and figured he’d have a snoop at the same time, just for old time’s sake and because he was still feeling a little talked-out. 

He followed the dazzling frosted garlands with twinkling lights up the stairs to the main landing, then chose a branch at random and continued up- towards a Christmas tree so heavily flocked and covered in decorations it seemed more like a cake than a tree. Then- a flash of colour caught his eye- and he followed it to what must have been the official ‘children’s tree zone’- there was a semi- tasteful pink and gold tree with perhaps more unicorn theming than Melony would have otherwise, and another tree with just... everything on it. Different colours of tinsel, homemade decs- he cracked a smile, recognising the triplets’ handiwork and being weirdly reminded of his own tree at home. 

He supposed that this meant he was by the children’s rooms- he peeked into a few open doors, stopped by one where off-key violin was being played- was poor Honey still at her homework- and then saw something else shiny and stumbled into Gordie’s old room. Which was very weird. It was kind of... sparse. Which wasn’t surprising since he’d moved out, but even when he’d last been in here, there hadn’t really been much to look at- probably because bouncing between two houses, he hadn’t really bothered with decorating past what his mum had tried to do with the room. Now all that was left was a single bed with plain blue covers, light blue walls, and minimal but expensive white furniture with some trophies neatly arranged on top of the drawers. 

Funny- even Piers’ parents were dead set on keeping his trophies on display, and they’d been dead against him taking up training- but once he’d started winning things they’d wanted so badly to show them off to everyone that he’d let them keep hold of them when he’d moved out. He could only guess that Gordie’s had been a casualty of the fight- that and the framed ice uniform propped against the cupboard which looked like it was from when he’d just been accepted as one of his mother’s trainers at the ice gym, judging from the size. 

He was tempted to start opening drawers for some juicer things- he glanced at the laptop charging on the side and the open suitcase on the floor before deciding against some more hardcore snooping, and went back down while he still had some plausible deniability, only peeping into a few more open doors on his way to the bathroom. 

His phone buzzed and he snuck a look at it- Rose was asking to come over. He felt kind of relieved to have actual plans that he couldn’t argue with this time, even as Rose wished him a pleasant evening and said he’d see him another time without a fuss.

—-

“Sorry, I went and had a snoop at all your trees.” He said when he came back into the room, mildly surprised to see the two hadn’t started to argue in the ten minutes he was gone. “My fave is the kids’ trees, but Honey’s unicorn dream castle tree is a close second. I love a good pink tree- I’m so tired of tasteful trees.” 

“I wouldn’t call Mum’s decorating tasteful.” Gordie said, and Melony huffed and smacked his shoulder. 

“Says the one who hasn’t even decorated at all.”

“I came back to you guyses, so what’s the point?” He said with a shrug, and then yawned and looked at the clock. “Actually, maybe I should drop you back already, Piers. It’s supposed to start snowing again at ten.” 

Piers glanced over at the clock and was surprised it was half eight already. “Don’t worry, I’ll get a cab.” He said, pulling up the corviapp on his phone. 

“Nah, I like driving and I want to talk to you some more, I’ll take you.” Gordie stretched and then rolled out of the chair, putting shuckle back and wrapping him up in a blanket before kissing the top of his shell. “See you in a bit, buddy.”

Melony insisted on walking him to the door and then hugging them both again, pulling back from Piers and squeezing his arms. “Piers, please look after yourself darling. You’re looking so worn down. And you’re welcome here any time- you don’t even have to ask.” 

“Thank you, Melony. You look after yourself too. And not just the kids, you.” 

She just pinched his cheek and retreated inside. “Don’t work too hard.”

He waved as he slid back into the car and they pulled off.

The journey back to Spikemuth always seemed so much quicker than to Circhester, he thought, as they rounded the roundabout and headed back onto the motorway. 

He looked over at Gordie, who was frowning at the road ahead. “So? You said you wanted to talk.”

“Mm.” He looked round to change lanes, then cleared his throat and continued. “It’s nothing dire, I just didn’t wanna let mum start giving you the third degree over it, you know how she’s like but- are you still not in a union, Piers?” 

“Nope.” Piers said, rolling his eyes. This again.

“Like, you really should be. My rep’s fantastic- she’s an absolute battleaxe and I think even Rose is scared of her- I can give you her number and I’m sure she can get you at least a bit more money, Piers.”

He snorted. “What- you think I’m too good to work in a shop?” 

He shook his head. “I’m saying you work too bloody hard to have to work three jobs, and as the third best trainer in the league, you’re worth a lot more to them than they let you believe, dynamaxing or no.”

He sighed. “It’s not really three jobs anyway. Shop only needs me a few months a year, the gym is pretty much seasonal too, and music’s pretty much just a failed side hustle.”

“Mate- you are criminally under booked for your talent. You should be all over the European league in the off season- and like- tv spots and interviews and stuff- you wouldn’t have to worry about money at all, the level you’re battling at.”

Piers just huffed. “I dunno. Training ain’t going well at the moment- it’s kind of all on hold cos we’re all too busy. And I kind of can’t be bothered. I was hoping Marnie’d’ve taken over by now.” He looked out of the window and sighed at the street lights flashing past. “Not that I’m not happy to put her through uni- but you know. Battling was just... I dunno. Part of me wonders whether I shouldn’t’ve just got into boxing or something, it was just a way to be allowed to fight people really, and my heart ain’t in it anymore.” 

“But then I’m no good at music either.” He laughed. “Might as well just stick with what I’m good for. Getting shouted at and hawking tat to little old ladies.”

“Piers.” Gordie groped around for his shoulder and squeezed it before putting his hand back on the gearstick. “I promise you that’s utter shit. And even if you’re not as good at the thing you love than other things- so what? You deserve to just fuck around and have fun making music, mate. You deserve to do things you enjoy with your life. 

“Thanks.” Piers said. 

“I mean it! Mum was right, you look exhausted. Please try and take it easy-“

“Will you two drop it?” He snapped. “I get it, I look like shit. Back off.” 

“Piers.” He said reproachfully. 

He didn’t dignify that with a response. 

—-

And then Gordie was pulling into his road- Piers had to laugh at the thought of his neighbours seeing the car and wondering what the hell brought it to this poky little terrace- and he stepped out into the cold. It was snowing already, and he waved as he slammed the door down behind him, expecting Gordie to stay in the warm, but he got out of the car- in his shirtsleeves, the idiot- and squeezed him tight again, rubbing his back. 

Piers clung on, not wanting to let him go- to be honest, he felt a little bit weird around Gordie lately- they were good friends now, and he wasn’t used to it. Gordie claimed to be straight, but he just wasn’t used to being hugged so nicely or cared about in general unless the person was after something, so he found that hard to believe. 

And, well, he so would, if it came down to it. Gordie was a posh git who could be a bit self-absorbed, but was also surprisingly sweet and had also had one hell of a glow up from the awkward little kid he’d met ten years ago. He just fit so nicely against him whenever they hugged like this. And those thighs, fuck. He just wanted to shift a little bit, and then he’d be in a perfect position to grind up against him, reach down and grab a handful of that soft arse, mess up his perfectly styled hair- stop it, Piers. It wasn’t happening. Some people were just nice, is all. Even to people like him. 

All too soon Gordie was pulling away and patting him on the arm. “Look- I’m gonna text you Peggy’s number and you can call her when your work calms down a bit, okay? Then you can free up some time for yourself. I’m sure she can bully Rose into a better deal for you.”

“Fine. I’ll try.” 

Gordie beamed. “Thank you, Piers. See you soon probably- give my best to Marnie and the ziggies for me, yeah?” 

“I will. Drive safe.” Piers said, getting one final look at his arse as he got back into the car and drove back home.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is quite inspired by the fic “gift horses” by Heartratemonitor, in that Piers and Rose do the fucc and Rose enjoys flashing his money around, but otherwise it’s pretty different, I hope- but I wanted to acknowledge the inspiration! I’ll try to add it as an inspired work so it’ll link if I can figure out how so go and read that one- it’s dark and emotional and almost had me in tears a few times, the writing is so good!


End file.
